NAIBOBI: Dr Ali Shermarke, President of Soma­lia, was shot dead on Wednesday afternoon [Oct 15] by a man said to be wearing police uniform.

Radio Mogadishu interrupted its programmes to broadcast the news. The brief broadcast announcement said: “Here is a tragic report: It concerns the President of the Somalia Republic, Dr Abdirashid Ali Shermarke. He was shot dead today at 1 p.m. in Las Anond by a man wearing a police uniform. The man is now under police custody.”

Later, the BBC monitoring station in Nairobi said Radio Mogadishu later announced that a dusk to dawn curfew had been imposed in the capital city and that security officers are patrolling the streets.

The President’s body is being flown back to Mogadishu.

[Meanwhile, according to an agency in Rawalpindi,] The President, Gen A.M. Yahya Khan, will be enlisted as a voter at the President’s House tomorrow [Oct 16] morning, when the three-month operation to enrol voters for the next elections begin throughout the country. The President will fill the enrolment form which will be taken to him by the Registration Officer of the area.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2019