Gunmen kill senior aid worker in Somalia

Mogadishu: Gunmen shot dead a senior aid worker in Somalia on Friday, the latest humanitarian worker to be killed in the country.

Witnesses said men armed with pistols assassinated Mohamed Kheire, the administration officer for German charity Bread for the World, at Elasha south of Mogadishu.

"They shot him in the head with several bullets and he died on the spot," said witness Ahmed Farah.

The killing came a day after gunmen in Mogadishu killed Osman Ali Ahmed, local country director of the UN Development Programme.

In separate violence, government soldiers patrolling northern Mogadishu killed five people on Friday, residents said.

"We were confined to our houses as the soldiers picked up suspects," said one local, Musa Osman. "We saw five dead men lying in the area later."