By Feisal Omar
MOGADISHU, April 29 (Reuters) – 0A South African security
trainer has been killed in Somalia by unknown gunmen during a
government-approved mission against pirates, the government of
the semi-autonomous region of Puntland said.
Pirates operating from the Somali coast have raked in
millions of dollars in ransoms from hijacked ships, including
oil tankers in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, in what
costs the world economy billions of dollars a year.
The security officer was killed on Friday while on a mission
targeting pirates in a coastal area used by pirates as a base
and where hijacked ships have been held for ransom, Puntland
said in a statement late on Saturday.
Officials at Saracen International, the security firm where
he worked, were not immediately available to comment.
South Africa’s international relations department said it
had been informed of the death. “We have received reports of the
incident and the mission is looking into it,” said foreign
ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela.
Puntland has been relatively stable compared to other parts
of the country which has lacked effective central government for
two decades.
Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked militants did not claim
responsibility directly for the latest killing but urged further
attacks against foreigners.
“I urge clans and fighters to redouble their efforts of
killing our enemies,” Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, the spokesman for
al Shabaab, told Reuters.
The rebels are fighting to topple the Mogadishu government
and impose a harsh brand of Islamic law on Somalia, but lost
ground in the Somali capital to African Union troops.
The rebels are also losing some of their territory in parts
of southern and central Somalia to Kenyan and Ethiopian forces,
who have sent their forces into southern Somalia to crush the
militants to help secure wider regional stability.
Somalia has been in shambles since warlords toppled dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Johannesburg;
Writing by James Macharia Editing by Maria Golovnina)
