In Somalia, gunmen have shot and killed the chief of the national police force, General Yusuf Ahmed Sarinle. News reports say four gunmen killed him at his home outside Mogadishu on Sunday. General Sarinle was a known supporter of a proposed African peace keeping force in Somalia to protect the Nairobi-based interim government. That government was planning to relocate to Somalia within weeks. General Sarinle was also in charge of an investigation into the recent desecration of an Italian colonial cemetary by unknown assailants.
English to Africa reporter William Eagle contacted the spokesmen for the interim Somali government, who said they do not want to comment on the assassination until an investigation has been completed. But Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle of the Mogadishu-based Somalia Center for Research and Dialogue told VOA the general is the latest target in a string of attacks that have killed senior police officials. He said it is not yet clear whether General Sarinle was killed for his political views.
