Journalist Killed in Somalia, The Third This Year

A Somali journalist working for a London-based television station became the third reporter to die in the war-torn country this year after he was killed Tuesday in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, police said.

Abdirisak Ali Abdi, who worked for Radio Daljir in Puntland and London-based Horn TV, was shot by a group of unidentified attackers in the town of Galkayo in the Mudug region.

"The assailants have escaped after the shooting but the police are still in pursuit of the perpetrators," said Hashi Dhaqane, a police official in the town.

The Somalian journalists' union said the father-of-two was shot "in cold blood" and said three other reporters had been wounded in the capital Mogadishu in the last two months.

His colleagues Nuh Muse said: "Armed men opened fire on him. I don't know why they targeted him. He was a brilliant guy who loved his work."