Top gun dies in 'friendly fire'

2004-04-01 12:58

Mogadishu - A senior Somali militia commander was killed in Mogadishu overnight when one of his fighters mistook him for an enemy combatant and fired an anti-tank round at his car, the victim's faction said Thursday.

"A terrible accident claimed the life of our beloved commander, Ali Ahmed "Beerey", last night," an official of the Somalia National Salvation Council faction, headed by warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow, told reporters in Mogadishu.

Two of Beerey's bodyguards were wounded in the incident, the official, who asked not to be named, said.

Yalahow is in Kenya attending peace talks aimed at restoring a semblance of normalcy to a country ravaged by factional warfare since 1991 when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled.

"It is a tragic death. Beerey was a peacemaker who desisted from violence," said Yalahow in Nairobi.

The Somali capital is divided into fiefdoms controlled by the city's various warlords.

- AFP