Top Police Official Assassinated in Somali

Unknown gunmen shot dead a high ranking police official outside the Somali capital of Mogadishu late on Monday, said police spokesman Abdullhi Sha’sha.

“Several young men armed with pistols came to the official sitting somewhere near his residence in Hamar Jajab district south of the city and shot him several times in the head and chest,” he said.

“It was actually very sad news for the government authorities, all Somali people and police officials in particular, because we have lost a great man.”

Abdi Kahiye, nicknamed Harag Shabel, was a prominent police figure in the capital. He worked in the former regime of President Mohamed Siyad Bare as a police colonel.

Hundreds of government soldiers and Ethiopians have been deployed into the streets close to the Police High Training School south of the city where the procession of his funeral is taking place.

Nobody has so far claimed the responsibility for the killing.

The government has vehemently condemned the killing and accused rebels of being behind it.

More than 10 district commissioners and police officers have assassinated since early last 2007.

Source African Press Agency

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