Somalia’s Minister of Public Works and Reconstruction Abbas Abdullahi Siraji was killed in Mogadishu on Wednesday in what was apparently an accidental shooting, government and police sources said.
In a statement, the government said it was “deeply saddened” by the death of Siraji, the youngest member of the Somali cabinet, who grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp before winning election in 2016 and being named a minister by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. Siraji’s vehicle was mistakenly shot at by government security guards outside the presidential palace, a senator, Ilyas Abdulahi, told AFP.
Sources said the gunmen were security guards for another government official, many of whom are escorted around the capital by armed guards in pick-up trucks.
