Managing director of Nigerian Compass newspaper shot during attack on highway

LAGOS, Nigeria – The managing director and editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Compass daily newspaper has been shot during an attack in the country's southwest.

The newspaper said in a statement Tuesday that Sina Kawonise was shot in the leg in the attack Monday while traveling through Osun state. The newspaper said a police officer traveling with him also was shot. Both survived.

Mohammed Garba, the president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, said he was aware of the attack, but didn't believe it involved politics as others were violently robbed along the same highway at the same time. However, the newspaper said Kawonise recently received unspecified threats over the Internet.

Security agencies and thugs routinely harass and beat journalists in Nigeria. Eighteen journalists have been killed in Nigeria since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.