A senior official of the Somali group Hizbul Islam has been gunned down at close range on the outskirts of restive Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Sheikh Mohammed Tahliil Warsame was shot several times on the head and chest by unidentified gunmen armed with pistols on Sunday evening in Ceelasha Biyaha, an area regarded as Hizbul Islam’s stronghold, reported Press TV correspondent Alinoor Moulid.
Witnesses said the gunmen fled the scene on foot after committing the crime.
Hizbul Islam fighters, who arrived in the area after the killing, carried out an operation which netted many suspects in connection with the incident.
Warsame was top adviser to current Hizbul Islam leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys when he was then head of the Shura council of the Islamic Courts Union administration that ruled Somalia in 2006 before it was ousted by the Ethiopian military invasion.
After the invasion, Warsame was involved in mobilizing civilians in reconciliation and peace efforts.
In recent months, he had been vigorously campaigning against the ongoing war perpetrated by rival group Al-Shabaab in the war-torn country, terming it as un-Islamic.
Hizbul Islam and Al-Shabaab, which are jointly involved in the fight against the embattled Western-backed Somali government and African Union troops in Mogadishu, have been involved in a bloody conflict over the control of southern regions.
