Al-Shabab Kills Regional Somali Lawmaker
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Islamist group al-Shabab killed a regional lawmaker on Saturday after he
had taken his wife to hospital in the capital Mogadishu, the group and
officials said.
Aden Haji Hussein, a legislator from the semi-autonomous Puntland
region, was sprayed with bullets when he returned to his parked car
outside the hospital, witnesses said. The gunmen were in a minibus that
blocked his way.
Al-Shabab, which wants to impose its strict interpretation of Islamic law, often targets officials and politicians.
On Tuesday al-Shabab militants stormed a government building housing
two ministries in the heart of Mogadishu, killing at least 10 people.
“Al-Shabab fighters killed the lawmaker in Hodan district [of
Mogadishu] and disappeared with their car,” Major Ibrahim Ali, a police
officer, told Reuters, adding that police were now searching for the
vehicle and the gunmen.
Abdullah Hashi, assistant interior minister for Puntland region, which lies north of Mogadishu, confirmed the shooting.
Sheik Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabab’s spokesman for military affairs,
said it carried out the attack. “We shall continue killing the
enemies,” he told Reuters by telephone.
He also said the group had launched a raid on a police station in Bosasso, capital of Puntland, on Friday night.
Witnesses from the city confirmed the raid.
Al-Shabab has focused its attacks on Mogadishu, but Puntland has
increasingly become a target as the group has been driven out of
traditional strongholds further south by a military operation of African
peacekeepers and Somali troops.
The group, which once controlled Mogadishu and swathes of territory,
was driven out of the capital in 2011 and has been losing ground since
then. But it still launches frequent hit-and-run attacks and has struck
across the border in Kenya.
This month, it claimed responsibility for an attack on a university in northeast Kenya that left 148 people dead.
Credit: Reuters