Somali minister shot dead by auditor general’s bodyguards
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Bodyguards for Somalia’s auditor general shot dead a government minister near the presidential palace on Wednesday evening, police said.
Capt. Mohamed Hussein said bodyguards escorting Nur Farah opened fire on a car carrying Abbas Abdullahi, the public works and reconstruction minister, near a checkpoint close to the palace.
It is not immediately clear what prompted the shooting. Security concerns are high in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, as the al-Shabab extremist group continues to target the palace, military facilities and hotels with suicide car bombings and other attacks.
The car carrying the minister approached and trailed the car carrying the auditor general, promoting his bodyguards to open fire, Hussein said. The minister’s bodyguards fired back.