MOGADISHU: Al-Shabab gunmen ambushed and killed the nephew of Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud in the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, police and the rebels said.

Militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked group attacked a car carrying Liban Osman, and a lawyer named Abdikadir Mohamed, through the city and shot them both, police Major Mohamed Nur told Reuters.

Osman had just returned from abroad and was about to start working as the director of a Mogadishu hospital, Nur added.

Al Shabab’s military operation spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the group targeted Osman because he was “a very important official at the presidential palace.” Militants in Somalia have threatened to “welcome with bullets” British soldiers due to be deployed in support of an African Union force.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said last month that up to 70 troops would be sent to Somalia to support soldiers of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) without giving a date.

“We have been getting media information that the Christian government of Britain is sending forces to Somalia to strengthen the invading infidel forces already on the ground,” said Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali.