MOGADISHU (SD) – Somali police forces have arrested four employees of the independent TV station 5 Somali TV after raiding their headquarters in the Hodan district.

According to reports, three journalists and one cameraman were taken from the office, and computers and cameras were previously seized, as confirmed by the station’s director, Fu’aad Xaaji Cabdi Wali. The director stated that CID officers forcefully entered the station during working hours.

Reports add that the raid and attack on the station followed the TV station’s broadcast of a list of 145 police officers whose names were released by the police chief after they allegedly fled the frontlines of the war against Al-Shabaab.

The police were angered by the dissemination of this list, which led to the crackdown on the TV staff.