Somali Judge Murdered.

[saward]

Gunmen kill Somalia pirate judge

A judge known for jailing pirates and Islamists has been shot dead in Somalia's northern Puntland region. Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware was killed outside a mosque in Bossaso, capital of the semi-autonomous region, where many pirates are based.
Mr Aware had recently sent to jail four members of the Islamist al-Shabab group, which is fighting Somalia's UN-backed government.
Bossaso is also a hub for smuggling people from the region to Yemen.
The high court judge was shot several times in the head and chest by two masked men, an eyewitness said.
Three suspects have been arrested, said Puntland Security Minister Mohamed Said Samatar.
Mr Aware was also a member of Puntland's Supreme Judicial Council which supervises the judiciary and nominates senior judicial officials.
"He sentenced hundreds of pirates, people-smugglers and members of al-Shabab during his work in Bossaso," said a cousin, Abdulahi Jama.
"These gangs hate him for his justice. We suspect one of them may have something to do with his assassination."
Also on Wednesday evening masked gunmen killed a Puntland lawmaker as he was heading to his house.

From the BBC.

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[Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre]

There have also been warnings given to other lawmakers and ministers in region to keep out of the piracy business.......... The business will survive for a long time yet irrespective of the Chinese / Spanish or any other hair brained scheme to block ports...

[saward]

Not just a 'piracy' matter but all part of a bigger game plan aimed at destabilizing the area further.

3 killed, 8 injured in Somali blast at Puntland border (PressTV)

A bomb explosion in Somalia's North Galkacyo town has left at least three people dead and eight more wounded, causing unrest in a relatively calm neighborhood.
Police said a remote controlled landmine had caused the explosion late on Sunday in the capital city of Mudug province in north-central Somalia, but declined to give further information, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The death toll is expected to rise as some of those injured are reported to be in critical condition.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.
During the past weeks, the relatively calm Mudug province and its neighboring Puntland region have become the scene of fatal attacks and bombings.
The fresh wave of insecurity has drawn the public's ire in both regions. In Puntland hundreds of angry citizens have staged protests, demanding a return to stability.
Puntland, home to one-third of Somalia's population, was declared a semi-autonomous region in 1998.
Unlike Somalia, it has a history of being a relatively calm province, but it is said that the ever-dangerous Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden have links with the region.

Open Source Information.

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