MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A Somali lawmaker and his bodyguard were killed in Mogadishu on Thursday when al Shabaab gunmen blocked their car and sprayed it with bullets, a fellow legislator said, the fifth such attack in as many days.
The al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militants were pushed out of the capital by African peacekeeping forces in 2011 but it has since waged a bombing campaign to try to overthrow the government and impose its strict version of sharia law. Al Shabaab threatened to step up attacks during the Ramadan fasting month which began on Sunday.