MOGADISHU
A Somali lawmaker succumbed to wounds he sustained earlier on Saturday during an attack by gunmen on his car in central Somali capital Mogadishu.
Earlier on Saturday, gunmen opened fire on the car of Somali lawmaker Youssef Ahmed Drar – who was in the company of lawmaker Abdullah Boss – as they drove in central Mogadishu.
Drar was wounded in the attack along with three guards. However, he succumbed to his wounds hours later.
The Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The pro-Al-Shabaab website, Somali Memo, quoted a movement leader as saying that a special Al-Shabaab force had assassinated Drar.
He vowed to target other lawmakers in the coming days.
This is the second armed attack to take place in the Somali capital on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, two people, including a civil servant, were killed in Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for this attack too.
Somalia has remained in turmoil since the ouster of President Siad Barre in 1991.
Al-Shabaab has been waging a years-long insurgency against the Mogadishu government.
The militant group has recently, however, suffered a string of blows, including the loss of most of its strongholds in southern and central Somalia to government and African Union forces.
Nevertheless, the group has continued to carry out deadly attacks against government officials and security personnel.
