 A prominent Somali peace activist has been shot dead by unknown gunmen at his home in the capital, Mogadishu. Through his Centre for Research and Dialogue, Abdulkadir Yahya Ali tried to resolve Somalia's 14-year civil war.
| Well, we can't have that, can we? |
Witnesses said about five attackers handcuffed his security guards, cut off the phone lines and shot him in front of his wife. The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the killing has shocked the city's residents.
| Somebody getting bumped off shocks Mogadishu residents? Which ones? |
Switzerland-based charity Wartorn Societies Project International, which helped set up the Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD), has downplayed any link between Mr Yahya's killing and a recent report, saying that Islamist terror groups were based in Mogadishu.
| Of course that didn't have anything to do with it... Of couse... Really... |
Reuters news agency reports that the CRD works closely with the International Crisis Group think-tank, which over the weekend said that a group linked to al-Qaeda was working out of Mogadishu. In its report, the International Crisis Group said the Mogadishu cell was led by a young Somali militant trained in Afghanistan, where al-Qaida was once based. They did not identify the Mogadishu cell, but said it is led by led by Aden Hashi Ayro. Its members had ``little or no religious authority ... (and) seem to be organized exclusively to conduct urban insurgency and terrorism operations without a clear political aim,'' the group said.
| Nope. Nope. Nothing to do with it... Truly... |
"Since 2003, Somalia has witnessed the rise of a new, ruthless independent jihadi network with links to al-Qaeda," the ICG report said.
| So ruthless they'd bump a guy off in front of his wife if they thought he might be on to something... But certainly not in this case... Couldn't have been them... |
It said the group was suspected of involvement in the apparent assassination of four aid workers and 10 former police or military officers in the past two years. "In the rubble-strewn streets of the ruined capital of this state without a government... al-Qaeda operatives, jihadi extremists, Ethiopian security services and Western-backed counter-terrorism networks are engaged in a shadowy and complex contest waged by intimidation, abduction and assassination," the ICG said.
| But you're still downplaying any link, right? |
| Couldn't possibly have anything to do with them.. |
United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, expressed shock at Mr Yahya's death. "Yahya was a committed advocate for peace and reconciliation, and his optimism never faltered," Mr Gaylard said in a statement from Kenya. | ... at least not until they were actually filling him with lead... |
| Notice how the UN coordinator for Somalia is living in Kenya, better hotels there I guess |
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