Suspected al-Shabaab militia kill chief in Wajir

Gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamist extremist militant group al-Shabaab on Saturday night killed a chief in the North-Eastern border town of Wajir.

Mohamed Barre Abdullahi, a chief of Erib location in Wajir South sub- County was shot dead by armed men who waylaid him on his way from a local Mosque where he went for evening Islamic prayers.

Confirming the incident on phone, the Wajir County police commander Samuel Mukindia who regretted the killing of the administrator whom he described as a dedicated civil servant said the deceased was slain about 500 meters from the Mosque, where he had his last prayer of the day at 8.45 pm.

“The assailants, who seemed to know  the chief, followed him to the Mosque and waited for him outside as he was making his evening prayers (Isha). They then followed him from behind until he was some short distance away from the worshipping place before opening fire”, said the commander.

He added “The gunmen who their number couldn’t be established because it was night knew their victim well as they could pick to shot him dead without hurting three other people who were walking with him at the time of his killing”,

The county police boss said the motive and the identity of the assassins couldn’t be immediately established as the security personell were still piercing together possible circumstance that could have made him a target.

The police chief however, said the administrator was not in the list of chiefs in the county who reported to the local security agencies on the threats to their lives from the al-Shabaab.

He said, “the attackers had a sole mission of eliminating the chief since they surgically shot him dead from a group of three other people including an assistant chief, without a single bullets hurting the others”,

Mukindia noted that security personnel who were on their normal patrol around the area swiftly responded to the sounds of the gun fire, but couldn’t catch up with the criminals who managed to escape on foot in the darkness.

Al-Shabaab has threatened several local chiefs, their assistants, religious leaders and other civil servants whom they described as “agents of infidels” in most of recent “preaching” following their numerous incursions in Garissa, Wajir and Mandera counties.

 On 23rd April this year, militants from the Al-Qaeda inspired group killed chief Muktar Maalim Ibrahim of Arabia area, Mandera county, after pulling him out of vehicle heading to Mandera.

And on the 2nd of the same month gun men affiliate to the Somali based militia, stormed a Garissa University College, took students hostage for several hours before killing 142 students and six security officers who were in operation to rescue them.

The killing of the chief comes only three days  after the government has lifted a two months long curfew in the region bordering the war-torn Somalia in a bid to give the Islam members a humble time to observe their Holy month of Ramadhan, which also involves a lot of night long prayers and supplications.

North-Eastern regional commissioner Amb Mohamud Saleh has said among the raft of security measures done by the government to defeat acts of terrorism and other criminal activities includes deployment of adequate national police reservists and arming of all chiefs, so that they could defended themselves from the marauding gunmen.