Four heavily armed attackers followed Yusuf Mohamed Dhisow, a businessman, as he left his house in northern Mogadishu before overtaking him, blocking his car and opening fire, an AFP journalist witnessed.
A member of the prime minister's family confirmed that the husband of Ayan Mohamed Gedi was killed in the Bakara market, the main Mogadishu market in the south of the city.
"We do not know who is behind this killing, but it was apparently a planned execution," Abukar Gaal, one of the slain man's cousins, told AFP.
"We think he was targeted because of his relationship with the prime minister and there are widespread fears that government officials and their relatives are being targeted."
The high-profile death was one of five separate killings reported in Mogadishu in the past 24 hours.
The coastal city has seen a surge in attacks and fighting since joint Somali-Ethiopian forces ousted a powerful Islamist movement late last year.
Thousands of terrified residents have fled and dozens have died since the start of the year.
At least 10,000 people have fled violence in Mogadishu since the beginning of February, according to latest report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"It could be as high as 15,000 people," spokeswoman Molly McCloskey told AFP.
Somlia is now awaiting the deployment of an 8,000-strong African Union force to try to help the interim government restore order in Mogadishu.
The country has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Source: AFP, Feb 27, 2007
NO ONE IS SAVE THERE
IF I WAS CAWAR I WOULD`NT VISIT XAMAR CADDE
