A judge who recently sentenced two suspects with links to Al-Shabaab, and a member of parliament who reportedly criticized the militant group’s actions have been gunned down this evening in northern Somalia less than an hour a part, witnesses told the VOA.
Both men were members of the administration of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, which enjoyed relative stability over the years. The killings are the latest in a wave of similar assassinations that have mired the region over the past few months.
Two masked men shot Judge Mohamed Abdi Aware of the First Circuit Court as he left a mosque in the port town of Boosaaso. He died in the hospital few minutes later.
Aware recently sentenced two suspected Shabaab members to more than 20 years in prison for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Puntland. Authorities wouldn’t say whether his murder is related to the sentencing, but a spokesman for Al-Shabaab has threatened to “revenge” against Puntland.
Less than an hour after Aware’s assassination, another gunman shot dead Ibrahim Elmi Gaab, a member of Puntland’s parliament. VOA stringer in Garowe, the capital of Puntland, where Gaab was assassinated, said the outspoken MP recently issued a scathing statement against Al-Shabaab.
The two assassinations have jolted Puntland and raised serious questions about the possibility of sleeping Shabaab cells in the region. Such killings could easily undermine the fragile stability in the region.
