Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Al Shabaab militants shot dead a government official in Mogadishu on Wednesday and, in a separate attack, bombed an African Union troop convoy outside the Somali capital, police and a spokesman for the group said.
Abdifatah Barre, the deputy district commissioner of Mogadishu's Wadajir district, was shot dead in his car.
"Gunmen opened fire on the car of the deputy district commissioner this morning. The official died and the gunmen escaped," Major Ibrahim Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters.
Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which carries out attacks frequently in Somalia and in neighbouring countries, claimed responsibility.
The group wants to impose its strict interpretation of Islamic law in the region and overthrow the Somali government, which is backed by Western donors and African peacekeepers.
"We killed the deputy district commissioner and we shall continue killing the enemies. This is part of our operation in Mogadishu," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, its military operations spokesman, told Reuters.
Also on Wednesday, an al Shabaab improvised explosive device damaged an armoured vehicle in a convoy of African Union peacekeeping vehicles, Colonel Mohamed Abdullahi, a police officer, and the group said.
The AU convoy was passing through Elasha town about 16 km north west of Mogadishu when the bomb exploded.
Police and residents said AU troops had surrounded the area.
Details about casualties were not immediately available, but al Shabaab said there were many. It is usually hard to verify casualty numbers given by the group.
Late on Monday, gunmen from the group stormed a police station in the country's semi-autonomous region of Puntland and killed three policemen.
The attack comes after US Secretary of State John Kerry's unannounced visit to Somalia on Tuesday.
Kerry met President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and regional Somali leaders for talks on reestablishing a diplomatic mission in Somalia after a more than 20-year break.
The trip "will send a strong signal to al Shabaab that we are not turning our backs on the Somali people and will continue to engage with Somalia until we bring al Shabaab terror to an end", a senior US State Department official had told reporters.