Somalia: Information Minister’s Brother Shot Dead By Government Troops

The elder brother of Somali Information Minister Ahmed Abdisalan Aden was shot dead on Wednesday by a presidential guard in Mogadishu. Abukar Abdisalan was returning from his daily morning exercise when he was shot by troops at a road intersection providing security for a convoy of the country’s three top leaders who were leaving Mogadishu for the southern town of Baidoa.

“A government solder shot him in the back of his head,” said Abi-rahman Hassan, a relative.

Police Chief Col. Abdi Hassan Awale said the police were trying to arrest the murderer and were very sorry for the killing.

“It is intolerable that the soldiers recklessly shoot civilians. We will arrest the murderer to face justice,” he said.

According to reports by local human right activists more than 6,000 people have been killed since government troops backed by Ethiopian forces took control of Mogadishu last year.

Dozens of government officials have also been killed in and outside the capital.

Late on Tuesday, four men suspected to be members of the Islamist rebels armed with pistols killed a former security chief in Dusamareb in central Somalia, locals said.

On Wednesday night, other masked men armed with pistols shot dead the deputy commissioner of northern Mogadishu district of Shibis, Abdullhi Haji Mohamed.

Source African Press Agency

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