MOGADISHU (AFP) - Unidentified gunmen killed a member of Somalia's transitional parliament, Hassan Ahmed Elmi, at his home in the capital, relatives said on Monday.
Sunday's attack was the first assassination of a deputy in the new 245-seat parliament, which held its inaugural session less than two weeks ago, marking a bid to restore central authority after almost a decade of factional warfare.
The killing took place in the southwestern Mogadishu district of Madina, which is controlled by warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow, one of the faction leaders rejecting the outcome of a national reconciliation summit held in neighboring Djibouti.
The transitional parliament was founded on August 13th at the conference held among politicians and other civilians representing different professions and groups in Somalia.
Mohamed Ahmed Ulusow, a neighbor, reported saying that two masked people machine-gunned Elmi in front of his wife and eight children, but took nothing from him. "This is a politically motivated killing," Ulusow said.
Speaker of parliament Abdallah Issak Derrow condemned the murder, saying: "It is regrettable that the MP has been killed, but we will issue a report on the killing after investigations."
There are already 180 MPs in Mogadishu, who are currently residing in the heavily guarded Ramadan Hotel in the north of the capital.
On October 18th, unidentified gunmen in south Mogadishu shot and killed General Youssuf Talan, a close ally of Somali President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan.
Salat is currently in Qatar to attend a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
