Bartamaha (Nairobi):- Masked gunmen have assassinated a high-ranking Somali military official in the administrative capital of the Hiraan region in central Somalia.
Salad Hared Farah, a military spokesman for Somali troops in the region, was shot dead inside his house in Beledweyne, some 300 kilometers north of the capital Mogadishu, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Three men in masks and armed with pistols shot and killed Farah before fleeing on foot in different directions, witnesses said.
Al-Shabab militants later claimed responsibility for the assassination, accusing Farah of secretly arranging an attack by Somali troops on the town.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.
Source: Press TV
