Rights Campaigner Murdered in Somalia

attacks on local civilians, aid workers and officials.Dunia Sheikh Daoud was killed on Saturday evening as she returned from work at the IIDA organization in the central Somali town Guriel, her employer told news outlets.At least 15 aid workers have been killed this year in the war-torn country, most of them Somalis.IIDA is a women’s development organization, which, among other things, campaigns to abolish the practice of female genital mutilation.It is unknown who was behind the attack.Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991 and its security forces are currently pitted in an ongoing battle against Islamists who wish to retake control over the capital Mogadishu and other parts of the country.Meanwhile, in Sudan, the media is concerned about the recent detention of a Darfuri journalist arrested for translating the comments of a displaced Darfuri woman into Arabic for a visiting Qatari official.The journalist, 35-year-old Nour A-Din Braima, was detained two weeks ago and has since been held incommunicado, the publisher of the daily Ajras Al-Huriyya said... more..http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=23081

8 Somali soldiers killed in growing insurgency

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Eight Somali government troops were killed in two separate attacks on Sunday, witnesses said, in the latest violence between the shaky U.N.-backed administration and an Islamic insurgency growing in strength.
A land mine attack killed three soldiers and three civilians in northern Mogadishu, while leaving three soldiers wounded, resident Mohamed Abdi said.
No one has yet claimed the responsibility for the attack in the capital, but targeted blasts and assassinations of officials are common in Somalia, where Islamic insurgents have vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency against the weak and corrupt U.N.-supported government. more..http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27386942/