Spate of killings in Mogadishu
2007-03-18 21:05
Mogadishu - Gunmen stepped up attacks in Somalia's capital on Sunday, hours after a police commander leading a crackdown on insurgency was shot dead by his own bodyguard in the southern port of Kismayo.
In Mogadishu, a barrage of mortar shells fell on a civilian district and wounded at least three people after missing their target in the port, where an African Union-chartered freighter carrying military hardware is expected to dock.
In addition, gunmen ambushed a convoy of Ethiopian troops near the port in southern Mogadishu, sparking a gun battle, but there were no casualties, said police.
Resident Abdulaziz Mohamed said some of the 13 mortars pounded a restaurant in the nearby Hamel Jejab neighbourhood, one of the most battle-drenched areas in the capital.
"Three people were wounded - two of them seriously - when a mortar shell landed in a restaurant where I was eating," he said.
Bodyguard arrested
In Kismayo, 500km south of Mogadishu, regional police commander Major Abdi Mohamed Abdulle was killed overnight in his compound in the port town by one of his bodyguards.
A second bodyguard and two children in a neighbouring house were injured, said witnesses. The man suspected of shooting Abdulle has been arrested and taken into custody.
"He was shot at close-range and bled too much. He was pronounced dead on arrival in hospital," said Ahmed Abdi, a police officer.
Abdulle had gained reputation for his unrelenting crackdown on gunmen in the port town, which was the last bastion of a powerful Islamist movement that was ousted from much of south and central Somalia in January.
Mogadishu police headquarters confirmed the death and said it had launched a probe into the killing.
Residents said there were brief skirmishes in the compound before the commander was killed.
Ten of thousands flee
Shortly before he was killed, Abdulle gave an interview to a Mogadishu radio station announcing the capture of four notorious gunmen who were blamed for a string of guerrilla-style attacks.
The shooting comes as insurgents sharply increased their attacks in the Somali capital after the joint Ethiopian-Somali campaign to dislodge Islamist forces from the capital - and the country - in January.
The attacks have claimed dozens of lives and forced tens of thousands to flee.