Addis Ababa, 2 August 2014 (WIC) – Gunmen have shot and killed well known Somali lawmaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Mader in Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district Friday, relatives and fellow parliamentarians confirmed, becoming the second member of parliament killed in drive-by-shooting in less than two weeks.
According to RBC, gunmen using a car blocked the car of the lawmaker shortly after he left a mosque in Hamarweyne where he performed the Friday prayers around 12:30 pm. They then spread bullets on the car before fleeing.
“Gun men attacked my father and shot him on the head several times,” a nephew of the assassinated MP told RBC Radio. “They drove towards his car and blocked. They started shooting him on the head,” she added. “He went to perform the Friday prayers and he was intending to have lunch with his family today.”
Sources said that the armed attackers escaped from the scene soon after killing the lawmaker. Police reached the area but nobody was arrested yet. MP Dahir Amin also confirmed the death of fellow Member of Parliament as he said this is another tragic day for Somali lawmakers.
Late MP Sheikh Mader was a veteran legislator and has served as the current chairperson of parliamentary sub-committee of finance. He MP Aden Mader was also once the Somali State Minister of Finance in Prime Minister Abdiweli Ali Gaas’ cabinet.
The al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab has vowed that it will continue assassinating Somalia’s Parliamentarians. Two lawmakers, among them famous singer Saado Ali Warsame were shot and killed in Mogadishu during the Ramadan month making the capital city the most deadly place for parliamentarians and government soldiers.