Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sharif Mohamoud Hassan, who was in charge of two security forces units made up of joint government and Islamist troops in the capital, was shot dead with his son a day after a lawmaker was gunned down in war-wracked Mogadishu.
"We condemn the killing of this officer," Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Osman Ali told reporters.
Witnesses said gunmen opened fire on Hassan's vehicle while he was on his way to a camp where Islamic Courts Union (ICU) forces loyal to Ahmed's government are based. He died at the scene, while his son later died of his injuries.
The ICU controlled the capital and large areas in southern and central Somalia in the second half of 2006 before being ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali forces.
Some ICU fighters have joined government troops after Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, was elected president in January under United Nations-mediated reconciliation talks in neighbouring Djibouti.
It was unclear who was behind the attack but radical Islamists have often targeted government officials as well as African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
The AU troops are the only foreign forces in Mogadishu after Ethiopia pulled out in January after a two-year intervention.
Source: AFP, April 16, 2009