A British Broadcasting Corp. journalist died Wednesday after being shot in the back outside a hotel in the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/2002/08/13/34395.html' target=_blank>Somali capital by a militiaman, the broadcaster said.
Kate Peyton, 39, an Africa producer for the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2001/06/22/8393.html' target=_blank>BBC, was shot while accompanied by BBC reporter Peter Greste outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu. Greste was not injured.
Peyton underwent &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/society/2002/06/13/30278.html' target=_blank>surgery at a Mogadishu hospital and died after suffering complications, said Dr. Abdi Ibrahim, who operated on her.
The BBC said she died from internal bleeding, reports Newsday.
Witnesses said a gunman approached her at the hotel's gate, fired one bullet at her with a pistol and then sped off in a car with other passengers. The car was later found abandoned in another part of town.
"Kate was one of our most experienced and respected Foreign Affairs producers who had worked all over Africa and all over the world," BBC Director of News Helen Boaden said in a statement. "She will be greatly missed, both professionally and personally."
A spokesman for President Abdillahi Yusuf said the transitional government was saddened by the killing and sent condolences to her family and to the BBC.
Peyton spent the past 10 years in Africa and is based in Johannesburg. She worked for the BBC as a producer and reporter since 1993, informs Reuters.
JB
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