MOGADISHU: Gunmen yesterday shot dead a lawmaker in Mogadishu, the third high-profile government official to have been killed in as many days, as Somalia descended further into chaos.
“We got information confirming that Mohamed Husein Addow was shot down, we can confirm that he is dead,” deputy transport minister Mohamed Dhere told AFP.
Addow was a staunch supporter of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the war-torn country’s internationally-backed president who has been under intense pressure since an insurgent offensive was launched six weeks ago.
Police official Col. Bahir Mohamed said an investigation was under way to determine the circumstances of the killing.
According to witnesses, fighting had taken place in his northern Karan neighborhood. The MP was reportedly captured and executed by hard-line insurgents who had gained control of the area.
“This is yet another terrorist attack, only hours later,” Dhere said, in reference to the assassination on Thursday in the western town of Beledweyne of Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden.
The previous day, Mogadishu’s top police commander — described as a faithful ally to Sharif — was also killed in a fierce battle in the capital. The drive against Sharif’s administration has been spearheaded by the hard-line Shebab armed group and the more political Hezb al-Islam (Party of Islam) of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former Sharif ally.
Aweys and the Shebab, who were among the main targets of Ethiopia’s 2006 military invasion, have refused to join peace efforts despite Ethiopia’s January pullout.
They argue that the African Union’s 4,300 Ugandan and Burundian peacekepeers are an occupation force bent on imposing Christianity in Somalia.
Around 300 people, may of them civilians, have been killed in the six-week-old battle and more than 125,000 displaced, according to UN figures and casualty tolls compiled by AFP.
