Former MP shot dead in Mogadishu

A former member of Parliament has been shot dead in Mogadishu in an attack by suspected Al-Shabaab members.

Witnesses said Abdikadir Qassim was killed when gunmen attacked him on his way to work on Sunday morning.

The shooting incident took place in Mogadishu’s Dharkinley district.

Al-Shabaab claimed the responsibility of the attack saying the group had carried out the “targeted assassination of Abdikadir Qassim.

“We will continue to hunt other MPs if they did not repent and denounce the apostate parliament,” said the group in a statement published on pro-Al-Shabaab website.

Sources said Qassim was working at the office of Lower House speaker, Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari before he was assassinated on Sunday.

Recently, there have been a series of killings targeting government officials Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab lost control of Mogadishu to a 22,000-strong African Union (AU) force in 2011, but has continued to carry out bombings and assassinations in the city.