A senior Somali army officer was killed on Tuesday by Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia’s central town of Beledweyne.
“Gunmen raided his home and shot him in the presence of his family,” police official Aden Hussein told Anadolu Agency.
“We believe it was Al-Shabaab who killed him,” said Hussein, who is based in Somalia’s Hiraan province, of which Beledweyne is the capital city.
The slain officer has been identified as Nuur Adde, a colonel in the Somali army.
Al-Shabaab, speaking via an affiliate radio station and website, claimed responsibility for the officer’s murder.
Al-Shabaab, which is waging a years-long insurgency against the Mogadishu government, has recently suffered a string of blows, including the loss of most of its strongholds in southern and central Somalia to government and African Union forces.
Nevertheless, the group has continued to carry out deadly attacks on government officials and security personnel.
By Yassin Juma
