Somali Singer, Parliament Member Killed in Mogadishu

A popular Somali singer who was also a member of parliament has been killed by Islamist militants.

A pro-militant website says al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab was responsible for Wednesday's shooting of Saado Ali Warsame outside the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu.

A witness told VOA Somali Service that gunmen in a car shot her several times in the chest, then fled.

Warsame was a well-known singer who was formerly based in the U.S. city of Minneapolis.  In 2012 she returned to Somalia and became one of the few women in the country's new parliament.

She is the fourth member of parliament killed by al-Shabab this year.

In a separate incident, al-Shabab has executed a teenage girl who the militant group accused of spying for the government.

Fartun Abdinasir Mohamed was executed by firing squad in the town of Dinsor.  The girl's father told VOA that his daughter was 13 years old and denied that she was a spy.

Somalia's internationally-backed government has struggled to stabilize the country in the face of continued al-Shabab activity.  The al-Qaida-linked militant group has attacked the presidential palace twice this year and has blocked roads to government-controlled towns, contributing to local food shortages.  

The group claimed responsibility for the shooting death of lawmaker Mohamed Mohamud Hayd earlier this month and the killings of two other parliament members in April.

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Source: VOA News: Economy and Finance


 

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