Somalis Kill 2 Journalists for Reportedly Refusing to Surrender Vehicle

Two journalists working for an Italian television network were shot to death Sunday by gunmen who reportedly tried to hijack their vehicle.

The victims were identified as reporter Ilaria Alpi, 28, and cameraman Miran Krovatin, 45, who were killed with a burst of rifle fire near the former Italian Embassy in the gutted ruins of downtown Mogadishu.

Witnesses said the journalists were traveling in a pickup truck with a Somali driver and two armed guards when they were stopped by a Land Rover full of Somali gunmen.

Maj. Chris Budge, a U.N. military spokesman, said the gunmen opened fire when those in the pickup truck resisted demands that they relinquish the vehicle. He said the pickup was riddled.

Alpi, who had spent time in Somalia last year, returned two weeks ago to report on the imminent departure of Italy’s military contingent.

“We had just spoken this morning,” Paola Spinelli, a foreign news editor for the RAI-3 television network, told the Associated Press. “Ilaria was a brave girl, and she never backed down.”

Krovatin, based in Trieste for an independent agency, worked frequently with the Italian network.

Alpi and Krovatin were the sixth and seventh journalists to be killed here since the U.N. operation began last May. Several others have been wounded and a number of local employees working for news organizations have also fallen victim, including eight Somalis killed while working for Cable News Network.

The withdrawal of Western military contingents, which will be capped by the departure on Friday of virtually all remaining U.S. soldiers, has triggered an outburst of banditry in the capital. Although nearly 20,000 U.N. troops remain in Somalia, they have stopped efforts to disarm Somali gunmen.