Gunmen have shot and killed a Somali journalist working for an independent media outlet in the capital, Mogadishu.

The Shabelle Media Network says broadcast journalist Abdihared Osman Adan was shot several times as he was leaving for work early Friday.

He is the first journalist to be killed in 2013 in Somalia, Africa's deadliest country for media personnel. Nearly 20 journalists were killed in the country last year.

Shabelle, which has had several journalists killed in recent years, described Adan as an “outstanding colleague and very active journalist.”

It called on authorities to work for a safer environment “where journalists can operate free from danger.”

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a December report that not a single journalist murder has been prosecuted in the past decade in Somalia. It blamed “weak and corrupt institutions” for the lack of prosecutions.