Presidential official shot twice
2007-06-19 11:47
Mogadishu - Somalia's presidential
spokesperson was shot twice at close range in the latest
assassination attempt on government officials in the Horn of
Africa nation, officials said on Tuesday.
"He was shot in the neck and near the jaw," a security
source told Reuters. "I think the gunman was aiming for the
head. He wanted to eliminate him."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the security source who
saw Hussein Mohamed Mahamud "Hubsired" recuperating in a
hospital run by AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu, said he was in
stable condition and was to be flown to Nairobi for treatment.
Insurgents from a militant Islamist movement ousted from
Mogadishu routinely attack government soldiers and their
Ethiopian backers, and have increasingly used Iraq-style tactics
including assassinations, suicide bombings and roadside blasts.
The assault came barely hours after two civilians died when
a remote-controlled landmine detonated on a road as government
vehicles passed on Monday.
The blast was near the venue of a peace conference which has
already been postponed twice over insecurity. The conference is
now scheduled to start on July 18.