A global media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has condemned the murder of Somali radio journalist Abdirisak Mohamed Warsame, who was killed during renewed fighting in the country's war-ravaged capital, Mogadishu on Friday.

Warsame, a producer for the leading independent broadcaster Shabelle Media Network, was scheduled to present news bulletin early Friday, Station Director Moqtar Mohamed Hirabe told CPJ.

Warsame was shot in crossfire while on his way to work just before 0430GMT, according to the station.

The gunfire came after the Transitional Federal Government forces launched a pre-dawn assault against hard-line Islamist guerrilla strongholds.

Local journalist Mustafa Haji Abdinur told CPJ the shooting occurred south of Mogadishu's Bakara Market area.

"We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Abdirisak Mohamed Warsame, including his colleagues at Radio Shabelle who are mourning the death of a third journalist since 2007," CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes said.

"We call on both sides of the conflict to take measures to protect journalists who are its unarmed witnesses," CPJ said in a statement received here on Saturday.

Warsame is the third Radio Shabelle journalist to be killed in the line of duty since 2007. The station also lost Hassan Mayow Hassan, and Bashiir Noor Gedi.

Warsame, 24, joined Radio Shabelle in 2007, according to Hirabe. He had been married for six months. Former radio Shabelle journalist Mohamed Amiin Adow said he remembered Warsame as a " talented" journalist and a "workaholic."

Three Somali journalists have died in the line of duty so far this year, CPJ research showed. Since 2007, 12 journalists have died in Somalia in connection with their work, half killed in crossfire and half targeted for murder.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2009)