MOGADISHU – A senior military commander in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region was Monday killed in an ambush, local officials said.
General Jama Said Afgadud was travelling in a car near the port town of Bosaso.
One soldier was also killed and another injured in the ambush. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Troops based near Bosaso fight Islamist militia groups affiliated with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab, which is facing a military offensive from Somali government and African Union forces.
Meanwhile near Mogadishu, a suspected suicide bomber targeting an AU military convoy was shot dead, AU military spokesman Ali Aden Haamud said.
“The troops fired several bullets at the car, which killed the driver and then his car exploded,” one witness said.
The attempted attack was claimed by an unnamed al-Shabaab official, who was quoted on a pro-insurgent website.
-Sapa
