Murdered TV producer's body flown to Kenya

The body of a BBC producer has been flown to Kenya, a day after a militiaman shot and killed her only hours after she had flown into Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Kate Peyton, 39, an Africa producer for the broadcaster, was shot while accompanied by reporter Peter Greste outside the Sahafi Hotel. He was not injured.

She died from internal bleeding after undergoing surgery at a Mogadishu hospital.

Her body, in a simple coffin, was flown to Kenya today and taken to a funeral home where a post-mortem was to be conducted tomorrow.

It was not clear why South Africa-based Ms Peyton was shot.

She was attacked at the hotel where a delegation of Somali MPs are staying. They are in the country to assess the feasibility of returning from neighbouring Kenya, where the government-in-exile is based because Somalia is too unsafe.

The killer got into a car and was chased by other militiamen guarding Peyton, witnesses said. He later abandoned his car and escaped.

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said Peyton’s death “is extremely shocking and extremely tragic”, said his spokesman, Yusuf Ismail.

“It is a cowardly act and if the message was to scare the new Somali institutions or the international community, definitely the killers made a very significant mistake.”

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, condemned the killing.

“All the political, religious and business leaders in Mogadishu need to deal with this issue urgently.

"Attacks on civilians and the media must stop and it is up to the people of Mogadishu to ensure that it happens,” he said.

“This is the only way they can garner the support and goodwill they need for the long road to peace and reconstruction.”

Somalia has had no effective central government since warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Then they turned on each other, sinking the nation of seven million on the Horn of Africa into anarchy.

A New York-based organisation that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide called on Somalia’s transitional government to ensure that Peyton’s killers are found and brought to justice.

“We mourn the loss of our colleague Kate Peyton and condemn this reprehensible attack on an innocent person who was trying to report on an important international issue,” said Ann Cooper, head of Committee to Protect Journalists.