Unknown gunmen have shot dead the head of a Dubai-owned port operation in the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland.
Paul Anthony Formosa, head of the P&O Ports operation in Bosaso port, was killed as he was headed to work on Monday morning.
Yusuf Mohamed, governor of Puntland’s Bari region, said Formosa was shot by two men disguised as fishermen.
“The men armed with pistols hit him (with) several bullets in the head,” Mohamed told Reuters news agency.
Formosa was rushed to the hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries.
Security forces were able to kill one and apprehend the second attacker.
The attack has been claimed by al-Shabab, the armed group fighting the Somali government for control in the horn of Africa country.
“We are behind the operation… we had warned him but he turned deaf ear. He was illegally in Somalia,” spokesperson for the group, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said.
The death of Formosa has not yet been confirmed by P&O Ports in Dubai.
