NYT : Gunmen Kill U.N. Official in Somalia

Gunmen Kill U.N. Official in Somalia

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Published: July 7, 2008

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on people leaving a mosque in Mogadishu on Sunday night, killing one of the country’s senior United Nations officials and wounding his son and another man, a witness and a family member said.

Attacks on officials, including those working for the United Nations and international aid agencies, are common in Somalia, where Islamic militants have vowed to fight an insurgency against the country’s weak government, which is supported by the United Nations.

Osman Ali Ahmed, the head of the United Nations Development Program for Somalia, was covered in blood and unconscious as he was rushed to a hospital after Sunday’s shooting, said Hassan Ali, a witness and a neighbor of Mr. Ahmed’s. Mr. Ali said it was not clear how seriously Mr. Ahmed’s son and the other man had been wounded.

Mr. Ahmed’s wife, Masteho Abubakr Yusus, later said in an interview that her husband had died at the African Union hospital.

The shooting occurred a day after an explosion killed a Somali official, his wife and four other people in Mogadishu.

On June 21, Hassan Muhammad Ali, head of the office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, was abducted from his home on the outskirts of Mogadishu.