General Abdi Kaahiye mercilessly slain by a gunman

[Wareer]

Mogadishu, Somalia (AP) - Men armed with pistols killed a police official in Somalia's capital, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks targeting the police force as Somalia's government struggles against an Islamic insurgency.

A group of young men shot Abdi Kahiye several times in the head and chest late on Monday near his house in the south of Mogadishu, police spokesperson Abdullhi Sha'sha said.

Ali Kheyr Osman, an area resident who saw the shooting, said Kahiye died before relatives could take him to a hospital.

Though Kahiye was not in charge of key police operations in Mogadishu, he was a well-known figure as the head of the ceremonial orchestra that entertains visiting officials and was considered well-connected politically.

"We have lost a great man," Sha'sha said.

Thousands of Somalis have been killed in fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's shaky government over the past 12 months.

The Islamists vowed to fight an insurgency after the Ethiopians dislodged them from power in December 2006. They had taken control of the capital and much of southern Somalia for six months before they were pushed into the bush.

Police said no one claimed responsibility for the attack, but a Web site on which Islamic insurgents post messages said that Islamic fighters had written to the site saying they had killed Kahiye.

"The slain criminal" was targeted because he performed for a government they consider illegitimate and immoral, said the Qaadisiya.com Web site, citing information it received from the insurgents.

More than 10 district commissioners and police officers have been killed in similar attacks in recent months.

Early Tuesday, hundreds of government and Ethiopian soldiers were seen manning street positions in the south of Mogadishu.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another.

A web of clan loyalties and the involvement of archenemies Eritrea and Ethiopia further complicates the conflict in the impoverished country.

Source: AP, Feb 26, 2008