Somalia Islamists vow to punish nun's killers

Mogadishu: Powerful Islamists in Mogadishu vowed yesterday to bring the killers of an Italian nun to justice and said they were confident the shooting would not undermine the peace in the capital.

Gunmen shot dead sister Leonella Sgorbati and her bodyguard on Sunday outside a children's hospital in north Mogadishu where she had worked since 2002.

The killings were a blow to Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers' attempts to prove they have pacified one of the world's most lawless cities since chasing out US-backed warlords in June.

The Islamists arrested two men in the attack.

"We will work hard to avoid such incidents from happening again. This will not affect the security of Mogadishu," the Islamists head of foreign relations said.

The attack drew immediate speculation of links to Muslim anger over Pope Benedict's recent remarks on Islam, but Addou said such incidents happen everywhere in the world.

"We want to reduce the probability of such acts happening again, by making the security tighter and bringing these criminals to justice as soon as the investigation is over," he said.

Sgorbati, born in 1940 in Piacenza in northern Italy, was from the Missionaries of the Consolation order based in Nepi near Rome. Her colleagues and students said they were shocked by the killings.

"Myself and the whole of Somalia is saddened," a sobbing Ibado Muse, who worked with the slain nun, said. "No one will be able to fill the gap she left." Sgorbati's body was flown to Kenya's capital Nairobi late on Sunday accompanied by her colleagues who had agreed to leave Somalia. An official at the Italian embassy in Nairobi said she had expressed a desire to be buried in Kenya.

The UN special representative to Somalia, Francois Fall, condemned the killing and urged the Islamists to ensure such acts are not repeated.

"The taking of innocent civilians lives is unacceptable," he said in a statement. Sunday's killings were followed on Monday by an assassination attempt on President Abdullahi Yousuf in the provincial capital Baidoa, which is outside the control of the Islamists.