afrol News, 12 November - Somali rebels have gunned down a judge known for jailing pirates and members the country’s radical Islamist group al-Shabab in Bossaso, a port in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, government officials have confirmed.

The official report said Mr Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware, who had recently sent to jail four members of al-Shabab group, was shot several times outside a mosque in Bossaso.

Mr Aware’s death follows the recent shooting of a Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Elmi Warsame on Wednesday as he sat at a tea shop in Puntland's capital of Garowe.

Police have said they were investigating both incidents, and extra security officials were deployed in Bossaso overnight.

The statement also said at least three suspects have been arrested since the shooting.

Mr Aware was a member of Puntland's supreme judicial council, which supervises the judiciary and nominates senior judicial officials.

Puntland is a base for pirates operating in the strategic shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa, and is home to criminal gangs and human traffickers, many of whom Aware had jailed.

Somalia has not had an effective central government for 18 years, although Puntland has set up a semi-autonomous government and the northern region of Somaliland has declared its independence.

About 19,000 civilians have been killed in fighting since the start of 2007 while another 1.5 million have been forced out of their homes.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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