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Somalia: Grenade attack damages Puntland radio station

New York, August 29, 2011 – Authorities in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland should conduct a thorough investigation into a grenade attack against a private radio station that left a security guard injured and the station damaged, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

"This is the second attack on Radio Daljir," said CPJ East Africa Coordinator Tom Rhodes. "We call on the authorities to do their utmost to see that the perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice so that Puntland sends a message that intimidation and violence against the media will not go unpunished."

At around 3 a.m. on Friday, a grenade was thrown into the compound of private broadcaster Radio Daljir in the city of Galkayo, the secretary-general of the Media Association of Puntland, Burhan Dahir, told CPJ. The explosion slightly injured a security guard and damaged the front of the station's compound, he said. The reason for the attack remained unclear, according to local reports.

In May, an unexploded bomb was found outside the station's gate, Dahir said. Last September, unknown assailants fatally stabbed Radio Daljir journalist Abdullahi Omar Gedi, 25, in Galkayo after he left the station, the station's managing partner, Jama Abshir, told CPJ.

Topics: Freedom of expression,