Somalia: Eight journalists wounded

Eight Somali journalists were injured on Tuesday after mortars hit at a police school in Abdiasis district of northern Mogadishu. The pressmen were covering a news conference organized by Al-Shabaab spokesman in the training facility at a base that had been seized since Monday.

Four of the wounded journalists were identified as Ilyas Ahmed Abukar, Abdirisak Elmi Jama, Abdinasir Idle and Muse Mohamud Jisow.

The journalists alleged that the attackers knew that a press conference was taking place at the base. One told AfricaNews on phone that the attackers were against their covering of the press conference.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Islamist gunmen have shot dead Sheikh Nur Abkey, who worked for the state-run Radio Mogadishu in May and he was the first reporter to be killed in Somalia this year.

Reporters Without Borders say nine journalists were killed in Somalia in 2009, including three killed in December when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a university graduation in Mogadishu.