Voice of America | Killed in Mogadishu, Somalia | October 14, 2017

Job:Camera Operator
Medium:Television
Beats Covered:Politics, Culture, Human Rights, Sports, Business
Gender:Male
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:Yes
 
Type of Death:Dangerous Assignment
Suspected Source of Fire:Political Group
Impunity:
Taken Captive:
Tortured:
Threatened:

Somali freelance cameraman Ali Nur Siad died on October 14, 2017, after a suicide attacker detonated a truck bomb at a busy intersection in the capital, Mogadishu, the journalist's brother, Bakar Hassan Abdi, told CPJ.

Over 358 people died in the bomb attack, which is the deadliest in Somalia's history, according to Reuters, which cited both Somalia's news agency and internal security ministers.

At the time of the attack, 31-year-old Ali Nur was on assignment with Voice of America (VOA) reporter Adulkadir Mohamed Abdulle, the broadcaster said in a statement on October 17.

Earlier on the day of the attack, the two journalists had interviewed Somali Justice Minister Hassan Hussein Haji at the Central Prison in Mogadishu, VOA told CPJ. The pair then went to an office at the Somali Red Crescent Society building near the site of the attack to process the interview footage.

Ali Nur was inside the Red Crescent building at the time of the explosion, according to journalists who spoke to CPJ and a statement from the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a United States federal agency that oversees the VOA.

The cameraman died on site from blast debris, Bakar Hassan told CPJ.

Ali Nur was buried on Sunday, October 15, 2017, according to Bakar Hassan.

Abdulkadir, the reporter, had gone to retrieve a laptop charger from his car at the time of the explosion, and sustained serious injures including a broken hand, burns, and shrapnel wounds, according to VOA.

Ali Nur had worked as a freelance cameraman since 2004, according to a statement from the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a United States federal agency that oversees the VOA.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the car bombing. Most media reports speculated that it was the work of Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab.

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