Mogadishu (ANTARA News/Reuters) - The African Union peacekeeping force fighting Islamist rebels in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, acknowledged on Monday its troops accidentally shot dead a Malaysian journalist earlier this month.

Noramfaizul Mohd Nor was killed when Burundian peacekeepers patrolling the coastal city at the centre of a four year rebellion opened fire on his vehicle. A second Malaysian journalist was wounded in the shooting.

"The Board of Inquiry (BOI) established that four soldiers were involved in the shooting ... and recommended that the four soldiers, from the Burundi contingent, be brought to trial according to their country`s military and judicial processes," a statement by the AMISOM peacekeeping force said.

The four soldiers had been suspended from duty, the statement said.

The 9,000-strong AMISOM force is effectively all that prevents al Qaeda-affiliated rebels from overthrowing the U.N.-backed government.

The al Shabaab militants withdrew from Mogadishu last month but warned they would carry out guerrilla attacks on the coastal city such as suicide car bomb attacks and assassinations. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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