Top UN official gunned down in Somalia
07/07/2008
The head of the UN Development Programme in Somalia has been assassinated by unidentified assailants.
Osman Ali Ahmed was shot in the head as he left a mosque in the capital city Mogadishu after morning prayers, a journalist working for the Shabelle Media Network confirmed to CNN.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the situation, the correspondent said officials believe Mr Ahmed was the intended target of the attack.
The incident follows the June 21 abduction of Hassan Mohamed Ali - head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' office - and it comes on the heels of yesterday's fatal bombing in the capital which claimed six lives, including that of a senior official.
Lacking a central government since 1991, Somalia has long been wracked by civil violence that was only exacerbated in 2006 after Ethiopian troops invaded the country to repel Islamist militias.
Despite initially suppressing the uprising, low-level guerrilla warfare has gradually increased and many analysts now caution that Iraq-style urban warfare tactics - centring on roadside bombs and suicide attacks - are steadily being introduced to the country.
In other recent violence, Ethiopian troops killed at least 71 insurgents last week and two western aid workers were kidnapped in the border town of Hodur.
The unrelenting violence has so far displaced hundreds of thousands of Somalis, with the UN estimating that 60 per cent of Mogadishu's residents have already fled their homes.
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