Sweden demands quick inquiry into slaying of journalist in Somalia

Stockholm: Sweden's foreign minister urged Somalia's authorities to speedily investigate the slaying last week of a Swedish journalist at an Islamist rally in Mogadishu.

Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson deplored the violence that has shaken the African nation, according to comments published on Monday.

Eliasson condemned the fatal shooting of veteran cameraman Martin Adler, and said that he has pressed the Somali authorities on the killing.

"What happened was terrible, it has deeply disturbed me," Eliasson was quoted as saying by Sweden's largest newspaper, Aftonbladet.

Adler was shot in the back by an unknown assailant while covering a rally on Friday in Mogadishu in support of the Islamist leaders who control the Somali capital and most of the country's south.

The shooter has not been caught, but the militia said the killing was planned by a foreign enemy that wants to shatter weeks of relative peace since the Islamists took over.

Somalis marked the 46th anniversary of the end of British rule quietly in Mogadishu on Monday, fearing Islamist militants would frown on celebrations.

In past years, public events were held in Mogadishu and other towns to mark the end of British rule over northern Somalia.

Italy, which ruled over the rest of Somalia, left the country in July 1960, and both parts merged to form the Republic of Somalia.