Somali MP Yusuf Dirir killed in Mogadishu attack

A Somali member of parliament has been shot dead in Mogadishu in an attack by suspected Islamist militants, the BBC reported on Sunday.

Security officials said that Yusuf Dirir was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car.

Three workers from the Transport Ministry also died in a separate drive-by shooting on Saturday.

The attacks in the capital city came as a number of people were killed in clashes between al-Shabab gunmen and government troops in southern Somalia.

Police said that Dirir had been killed when gunmen in a minibus blocked his route and sprayed the car with bullets.

"He was a man that has long served his country and wanted to see a united Somalia," said speaker of parliament Mohamed Osman Jawari.

Local media said that another MP had also been wounded in the incident and was in hospital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the killings are the latest in a string of assassinations of politicians in the war-torn country.