Wednesday, April 15, 2009
advertisementsThe deputy speaker of Somalia's parliament says gunmen have assassinated lawmaker Abdulahi Isse Abtidoon in a drive-by shooting in the lawless capital of Mogadishu.
Osman Ilmi Boqore says the legislator was standing on the street when gunmen in a passing vehicles shot him down Wednesday.
Abtidoon is the first parliament member killed since a new government was set up in January. Two other legislators have been shot and wounded this month but survived.
Somalia has been wracked by violence for nearly 20 years and its Western-backed government wields little control outside a few blocks of Mogadishu patrolled by African peacekeepers. Piracy is rampant off the coast.
Source: AP, April 15, 2009