Journalists Killed in 2015 - Motive Confirmed: Daud Ali Omar

Radio Baidoa
April 29, 2015, in Baidoa, Somalia

Unidentified armed men broke into Daud's house at around 1 a.m. in the Bardaale neighborhood in the south-central city of Baidoa while the journalist and his wife, Hawo Abdi Aden, were sleeping, news reports and local journalists said. The gunmen shot the two dead and fled the scene before the police arrived, the reports said.

Daud, 35, was a producer for the pro-government, privately owned station Radio Baidoa, which covers regional violence and local politics, according to local journalists and news reports. The station shared news and reporters with the state-run Radio Mogadishu, the same sources said. Daud had also worked as a news reporter for the same station. Local journalists said he had previously produced a morning talk show called "Good Morning."

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Local journalists and police said they suspected the militant insurgent group Al-Shabaab was responsible for the attack and cited the station's links to the government, according to news reports.

The murder of Daud and his wife were the latest in a string of attacks in Baidoa, according to news reports. In the two months prior to the murder, at least three moderate Islamic scholars were killed by gunmen suspected of being affiliated with Al-Shabaab, news reports said. In December, a car bomb explosion in a popular restaurant in Baidoa killed Mohamed Isaq, cameraman for the privately owned Kalsan TV station, and freelance journalist Abdulkadir Ahmed.

The local Somali Independent Media Houses Association condemned the attack and called for a thorough investigation, news reports said. Police said they were investigating the attack, according to local journalists and news reports.

Daud and Hawo were survived by three children.