Senior police officer killed in Mogadishu

A senior police officer was killed in Mogadishu by unidentified men armed with machine guns,  latest in series of targeted assassinations against government soldiers in Somalia.

Ali Adow Mohamed, Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) of Karan district was killed on his way from work, according to witnesses.

The assailants have escaped before the security forces reached the scene of the crime.

The security forces launched an operation to pursue the perpetrators in Karan district, the spokesman of Somalia’s internal security ministry Abdikamil Mo’alin Shukri who spoke to reporters in Mogadishu said.

The spokesman has blamed Al-Shabaab for the killing of OCPD, although no one has yet claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Al-Shabaab has in the past carried out numerous attacks, including suicide bombings on the government installations, hotels, and military bases of SNA and AMISOM.