12/09/08 (B464-B) Shabelle / Le « Préfet de Police » du district Shibis, tué par balle au cours d’un accrochage avec les troupes somaliennes. Somali district commissioner killed in Mogadishu shooting (En Anglais – Info lectrice)

The commissioner of Shibis district has been shot dead in a brief gunfire between within Somali troops on Thursday officials, eyewitnesses said.

Mohamed Abdi Filfil was killed at his district centre when his forces and his deputy commissioner forces clashed.

It is the latest in a string of attacks on officials in Somalia, which is plagued by lawlessness after years of conflict.

« The soldiers shot Filfil as he was leaving from the administration headquarter when the clashed erupted, » Government official who declined to disclose his identity told Shabelle.

Ethiopian troops, in Somalia to support the government, said they had killed at least 71 insurgents last week.

Thousands of people have fled the country this year as the security situation has deteriorated, aid agencies say.

Somalia has experienced almost constant civil conflict since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime in January 1991.

The UN has warned that nearly half of Somalia’s population is likely to require aid later this year.