A former Ottawa resident is one of two journalists assassinated in conflict-wracked Somalia.

Somali-Canadian journalist Ali Iman Sharmakre owned HornAfrik Media, a radio company, which he operated in Mogadishu, the capital city. He was returning from the Saturday funeral of Mahad Ahmed Elmi, a radio talk show host he employed, when a remote-controlled land mine detonated near his vehicle.

The blast injured two other journalists in the car with Sharmakre.

Hours before his own death, Sharmakre spoke to the Associated Press about what the death of Elmi, shot Saturday as he went to work, meant to his troubled country.

"The killing was meant to prevent a real voice that described the suffering in Mogadishu to other Somalis and to the world," Sharmakre told The Associated Press. "Elmi was a symbol of neutrality."

Elmi was married. He had a son and daughter. Reuters reports that Elmi had fled to Canada as a refugee.

Sharmakre had two wives and three children. He originally fled Somalia's brutal civil war that erupted in 1991 and settled in Ottawa, where he reportedly had a comfortable career and became a Canadian citizen.

He returned to Mogadishu in 1999, where he established HornAfrik. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression gave him its International Press Freedom Award in  2002.

Foreign Affairs Canada told CTV News that the High Commission of Canada office in Nairobi, Kenya is aware a Canadian citizen had been killed in Mogadishu and that consular services would be provided.

Both the government and the Islamic militants trying to topple it have come under criticism by HornAfrik.

There is no word yet as to who is responsible for the killings.

"Those who don't want peace for Somalia are behind these attacks," deputy police commissioner Abdullahi Hassan Barise said.

The government has accused independent radio stations of broadcasting programs "likely to cause unrest."

Police raided Shabelle Radio, a Mogadishu station, on Friday. Aweis Yusuf Osman, the station's English-service editor, said eight journalists were detained for several hours.

Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, spoke out against the killings of Sharmakre and Elmi.

"These savage killings are an indicator of the perilous conditions facing journalists in Somalia, where political chaos and lawlessness threatens all independent journalism," he said. 

The National Union of Somali Journalists said in a statement that six Somali journalists have died in the country so far in 2007.

With files from The Associated Press