Gunmen shoot Somali lawmaker dead in Mogadishu

A Somali parliamentarian has been shot dead and another wounded in the capital Mogadishu, the latest in a string of assassinations of politicians in the war-torn African state.

Security officials said that the shooting attack was carried out on Saturday when lawmaker Yusuf Dirir Abdi was driving with another parliamentarian Abdalla Boos through the streets of Mogadishu. Boos escaped the attack with minor injuries, they said.

“The attackers were riding in a minibus with an ambulance logo, they opened fire on the MPs and then escaped the scene before the security forces reached the area,” said Mohamed Abdiaziz, a security official.

The Takfiri al-Shabab group has claimed responsibility for the assassination, with a spokesman saying it was carried out by their “special trained forces.”

In a separate shooting incident on Thursday, unknown gunmen assassinated a senior official from the Transport Ministry.

Al-Shabab has been behind several attacks targeting key government and security figures.

Earlier this month, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the assassination of a parliament member of Somalia’s northeastern semi-autonomous Puntland region. MP Said Hussein Nur was shot dead by heavily armed gunmen as he left a mosque on May 8.

In another development on Saturday, at least 17 people were killed after clashes broke out between army forces and al-Shaba terrorists in Awdigle district and Mubarak village, south of Mogadishu.

Somalia has been the scene of deadly fighting between government forces and al-Shabab elements since 2006.

The militants have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by government troops and the African Union Mission to Somalia, which is largely made up of troops from Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone,and Kenya.

The al-Shabab members have, however, continued to carry out attacks in Mogadishu despite being ousted from their bases in the seaside city in 2011.

DB/MKA

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