A Somali parliamentarian has been assassinated, hours after US President Barack Obama had said al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia had been ‘weakened.’ The militia al-Shabab has claimed responsibility.
Confirmation emerged on Sunday that lawmaker Abdullahi Huseen Mohamud and two guards and a driver were shot dead in Mogadishu on Saturday as Obama claimed during a visit to Kenya that Shabab’s network in East Africa had been “weakened.”
Shabab in a statement carried by the news agency AFP on Sunday said its fighters had “killed a member of the parliament and his guards.”
Gunmen shot at Huseen Mohamud’s car as he traveled through a southern district of Mogadishu, where Somalia’s internationally recognized government is backed by an African Union force, AMISOM.
A witness said all the occupants were killed. The militants fled.
Pushed back but still active
Since 2007, AMISON and Somali troops have evicted Shabab across much of Somalia’s south.US drones have also killed senior Shabab commanders.
Under pressure, Shabab hit back in neighboring Kenya by killing several hundred people at a Nairobi shopping center in 2013 and at a rural university in April this year.
Somali government and United Nations officials say that the militia has split, moving southwards into Somalia’s Jubba valley region and northwards into the Galgala hills, part of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region.
Shebab’s control ‘decreased’
During a press conference in Nairobi Saturday, Obama said Western powers had been able to “decrease” Shabab’s control within Somalia, but conceded that the militia could “still do damage.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry made a three-hour visit to Mogadishu in May but did not venture beyond its tightly secured airport.
Kerry had talks with diverse Somali leaders and told President President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud he hoped next time to be able to “just walk downtown.”
Lawmakers frequently targeted
Shabab has frequently targeted lawmakers. Abdulahi Qayad Barre was shot dead in February as he made his way to parliament to vote.
At least five members of parliament were killed in 2014. Diverse aid organisations have also been targeted in recent years.
Late last month, diplomats assigned to the United Arab Emirates embassy survived a suicide bomb attack that killed at least six bystanders, including four civilians.
On Saturday, helicopters reported to be from Ethiopia targeted Shabab fighters in Somalia’s southern Bay region.
Residents quoted by AFP said a truck carrying civilians who were fleeing the fighting was blown up, killing six civilians, including two children.
Somalia is due to vote on a new constitution next year ahead of elections in 2016.
Source: DW
