Bosaso (Sunatimes) Al-Shabaab militant group is to be blamed for the recent assassination of a renowned cleric in Puntland, Sheikh Ahmed Hajji Abdirahman who was shot dead in Bosaso on Monday morning, clerics claim.

Meeting at Al-Rowda Mosque in Bosaso on Tuesday evening, the clerics produced what they claimed was documents and messages sent to the deceased before his death to prove their accusation against the rebel group.

They said the brutal assassination was the work of Al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia.

The meeting was attended by several renowned clerics in Puntland including Sheikh Dahir Aw Abdi, Sheikh Abdulkadir Nur Farah and Sheikh Fua’d Mohamud.

Unknown assailants armed with Pistols shot dead the Sheikh as he came out of a Mosque in the area, where he joined other faithfuls in conducting their Morning Prayer.

The attackers immediately fled the scene of the incident.

Earlier on Monday, Puntland president Abdirahman Mohamed Farole echoed the same and accused Al-Shabaab militant group of masterminding the killing of the Sheikh.

Farole said the assassination was part of rebel conspiracy to eliminate religious leaders who oppose its ideology, promising that his people will fight and defeat the perpetrator of the killing.

By Rooble Dirir