Kate Peyton was a British journalist and senior producer for the BBC Johannesburg. She was shot outside her hotel in Mogadishu and underwent surgery at a local hospital but died later because of internal bleeding, according to the BBC. She was shot a few hours after she came to the capital of Somali to begin a series of reports on the strife-torn country.
Agence France-Presse quoted witnesses saying that Peyton’s murderers shot her from a white sedan and then speeded away. The vehicle was later found abandoned in the neighborhood of Mogadishu.
Peyton's attackers were believed to be two independent militiamen, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists. It was later found by the United Nations that her killing was likely organised by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated military leader, Aden Hashi Farah.
The BBC said that Peyton had spent the last 10 years in Africa and was based in Johannesburg. She had worked for the BBC since 1993 and had also worked as a producer and trainer for the South African Broadcasting Corporation in Johannesburg.
She always loved Africa, South Africa especially. She was a journalist with a wide experience: she worked in many conflict zones. Though Africa was her primary concern, she equally worked everywhere - in Europe, in the Middle East, in Asia, around Iran.
To prove how professional she was here’s a story: once she arrived to Jerusalem, she was checking into the Hilton hotel when a suicide bomber blew himself up on the street outside. Moments earlier she had been a few feet away, collecting her luggage from the taxi. Minutes later, she was reporting the event that had almost taken her own life.
She grew up in the village of Beyton in Suffolk. Her father died in a traffic accident when she was a child. She took a degree in civil engineering but never practised and chose journalism instead.
According to the Guardian, Kate’s family and colleagues say that she was really generous and funny. She believed in human goodness and living a good life. She hated injustice and, though she had no illusions, she thought that journalism should be something honourable.
It is doubly cruel that her death comes at a time when her own life was filling up with a new happiness. She spent much of the last year grappling with the bureaucracy required to adopt the daughter of her partner, whom she was to marry later this year. She was excited by the prospect of raising a family of her own.
Agence France-Presse quoted witnesses saying that Peyton’s murderers shot her from a white sedan and then speeded away. The vehicle was later found abandoned in the neighborhood of Mogadishu.
Peyton's attackers were believed to be two independent militiamen, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists. It was later found by the United Nations that her killing was likely organised by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated military leader, Aden Hashi Farah.
The BBC said that Peyton had spent the last 10 years in Africa and was based in Johannesburg. She had worked for the BBC since 1993 and had also worked as a producer and trainer for the South African Broadcasting Corporation in Johannesburg.
She always loved Africa, South Africa especially. She was a journalist with a wide experience: she worked in many conflict zones. Though Africa was her primary concern, she equally worked everywhere - in Europe, in the Middle East, in Asia, around Iran.
To prove how professional she was here’s a story: once she arrived to Jerusalem, she was checking into the Hilton hotel when a suicide bomber blew himself up on the street outside. Moments earlier she had been a few feet away, collecting her luggage from the taxi. Minutes later, she was reporting the event that had almost taken her own life.
She grew up in the village of Beyton in Suffolk. Her father died in a traffic accident when she was a child. She took a degree in civil engineering but never practised and chose journalism instead.
According to the Guardian, Kate’s family and colleagues say that she was really generous and funny. She believed in human goodness and living a good life. She hated injustice and, though she had no illusions, she thought that journalism should be something honourable.
It is doubly cruel that her death comes at a time when her own life was filling up with a new happiness. She spent much of the last year grappling with the bureaucracy required to adopt the daughter of her partner, whom she was to marry later this year. She was excited by the prospect of raising a family of her own.