Somalia: Militants kill deputy mayor in drive-by shooting

Al Shabaab insurgents have shot and killed in a drive-by attack a deputy mayor in Mogadishu on Wednesday morning, officials and witnesses have said.
Abdifatah Barre, the deputy mayor of Wadajir district, was getting into a car in front of his home in the Wadajir neighbourhood and was about to go to his office when the gunmen attacked, witnesses said. Two of his bodyguards were also killed by the armed assailants.
The al-Qaeda-linked militant group claimed the responsibility of the assassination.
The armed men managed to flee the scene after conducting the drive-by shooting
Government assassinations are nothing new as al-Shabaab tactic, but now the extremists are taking aim at officials who are much more low-level, who often do not have the sort of bodyguards or other protection that top leaders do. Some of the victims have only the slimmest connections to the authorities.
Though al-Shabaab was pushed out of key towns in South and Central Somalia, the group has been able to hit high-profile targets in Mogadishu’s heavily fortified areas, including the national courts, the UN compound, the Turkish embassy, and popular gathering places.
Horseed Media