Somali Lawmaker Shot And Killed In Latest Attack

Mourners carry the body of Somali lawmaker Abdiaziz Isaq Mursal for burial in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Tuesday April 22, 2014. Two gunmen belonging to an Islamic extremist group shot and killed the Somali legislator Monday as he stepped out of his home in the capital, the second fatal attack on a member of parliament in as many days, police said.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Two gunmen belonging to an Islamic extremist group shot and killed a Somali legislator on Tuesday as he stepped out of his home in the capital, the second fatal attack on a member of parliament in as many days, police said.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility in a radio broadcast for the attack on Abdiaziz Isaq Mursal. He was ambushed in the Madina district of Mogadishu, said senior police officer Ali Hassan. On Monday legislator Isaq Mohamed Rino was killed in a car bombing that also wounded a lawmaker with whom he was traveling. Al-Shabab, which has continued to stage attacks in Mogadishu despite being ousted from the seaside capital in 2011, also claimed responsibility for that killing.

The targeting of members of parliament marks a turning point. The parliament is emerging as a pillar of democracy in the Horn of Africa nation. Al-Shabab militants have previously carried out attacks against United Nations staff, government officials, African Union peacekeepers and last year on an upscale mall in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya which has sent troops into Somalia to battle al-Shabab.

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed condemned the Tuesday attack and expressed shock at the "horrific and deplorable killings" of the two lawmakers. "The use of terror will not derail us from the progress made in securing Somalia, it only serves to unite and strengthen our resolve to defeat all forms of terrorism and violence," Ahmed said in a statement.