Somalia: Police kill 4 tried to assassinate official in Mogadishu  

MOGADISHU, Somalia – An official says Somali police shot and killed four suspected militants attempted to assassinate a senior government official in the capital, Mogadishu on Friday, Garowe Online reports.

Zakia Hussein, deputy police commander, said the armed assailants, including a young woman, were gunned down by the Somali security forces in Howlwadaag district during a brief shootout.

“Police forces in Hawldadag District managed to avert an assassination attempt against the general director for the Education Ministry, Abdi Garre. After an exchange of gunfire, the troops shot dead the attackers, among them a woman carrying weapons for them,” said Hussein in a Twitter post.

An eyewitness confirmed to Garowe Online that the armed men in their 20s were about to shoot the official as he was performing the Friday prayers at a mosque in Bakaro market, but the police killed them on sight.

The police have put on display the dead bodies of the alleged extremists on the street near the scene of the shooting.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the foiled assassination, however, local authorities pointed the finger of the blame at Al-Shabab, the Al-Qaeda-linked group based in the country.

Bakaro, the biggest market in Somalia has once served as Al-Shabab’s economic and command base before the group was dislodged in 2011 by the country’s armed forces with the support of AU troops.

The latest incident comes as the police tightened the security of the capital; block some of the main roads in the long-chaotic seaside city to ward off possible attacks by the Al-Shabab militants.

GAROWE ONLINE