Masked gunmen killed seven Pakistani preachers at a mosque in Somalia’s Puntland region yesterday, residents and local officials said.
Western security agencies say Somalia is a haven for insurgents plotting attacks in the region and beyond. Puntland is a base for pirates targeting the Gulf of Aden, but has been more peaceful than the south of Somalia.
Residents said the attack took place after early morning prayers at the mosque in Galkayo in the semi-autonomous region, and was aimed at a group of 25 sheikhs who arrived on Tuesday.
“Six Pakistanis died on the spot while another Pakistani died from his injuries in the hospital. These men are Islamist preachers from Karachi, Pakistan,” Hussein Abdullahi, chairman of Galkayo, said by telephone. “Puntland forces have now surrounded the area around the mosque to protect the other sheikhs.” he said.
Somalia has been torn by civil war since 1991, and the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed controls only small pockets of the capital Mogadishu.
It is battling hardline Islamist rebels in southern and central regions, including the al-Shabaab group, which the US accuses of being al-Qaeda’s proxy in Somalia.
Puntland’s information minister was killed in the same area last week, and residents said yesterday’s attack may have been motivated by suspicions the preachers were linked to al-Qaeda.
Resident Sheikh Abdiqadir Ali said masked gunmen opened fire in the mosque immediately after prayers. A village elder said the bodies were removed from the scene by the security forces.
Abdullahi Said Samatar, Puntland’s security minister, said the dead were preachers who traveled the world to spread Islam.
“We were very shocked to hear seven Pakistanis were killed in our region,” he said.
Meanwhile, four aid workers from a French charity and two Kenyan pilots were freed on Tuesday after being held hostage for nine months, officials said.
The two French women, a Belgian and a Bulgarian working for Action Contre La Faim (ACF — Action Against Hunger) boarded a plane and were flown out of Somalia, a spokeswoman for ACF said.
“Apparently all are in good health, they’ll have a medical check-up,” said the relief organization in a statement.
Somali gunmen seized the four aid workers on Nov. 5 last year, along with two pilots who were accompanying them to an area bordering Ethiopia.
The gunmen snatched them as they were trying to leave the airstrip in Dhusa Mareb, an Islamist stronghold in central Somalia, to fly to Nairobi.
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