Gunmen kill Somali aid worker
2005-07-11 13:50
Mogadishu - Heavily-armed gunmen in Somalia's lawless capital of Mogadishu overnight shot and killed a Somali aid worker who headed a non governmental organisation in the shattered African nation, witnesses said on Monday.
They said about six gunmen raided the residence of Abdulkadir Yahya Ali, co-founder and director of the Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD), tied up watchmen and disconnected telephone lines.
They hauled Ali out of his house and shot him, killing him instantly, said neighbours on condition of anonymity.
It was not clear why he was killed, but humanitarian workers have increasingly been targetted in Somalia, whose government collapsed in 1991 when dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was toppled.
The bullet-scarred capital Mogadishu, in particular, has been a hub of instability for the last 14 years.
CRD is an affiliate of the Wartorn Societies Project International (WSP), which promotes peace initiatives in countries ravaged by conflicts.
In April, gunmen killed a Somali female aid worker and injured her male Kenyan colleague while in February a BBC journalist was slain in the capital. Neither of these apparently targeted murders has been resolved.