Bosaso,(insidesomalia.org)-An officer with the Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) was shot and killed Thursday night in the region's port city of Bossaso, witnesses said.

PIS agent Ali Salah Dhu'le was killed minutes after he walked out of a mosque, where he offered evening prayers.

Two men armed with pistols shot the intelligence agent in the head before fleeing into the night.

The victim becomes the second PIS agent to be assassinated in Bossaso, with local police officials linking his killing to suspected insurgents waging war against Somalia's interim government.

The Puntland regional autonomy, in the country's northeast, is the major domestic backer of the Somali Transitional Federal Government, which is struggling to restore national order in the capital Mogadishu, where the insurgents' guerrilla attacks are frequent.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killing, but it comes at a time Puntland is undergoing a period of insecurity, due to organized crime, official corruption and insurgent attacks, observers said.

Government sources in Bossaso tell Garowe Online that PIS is supported and funded in part by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), America's intelligence service.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced of friction between PIS director Osman "Diana" Abdullahi and Puntland Security Minister Abdullahi Said Samatar, with Samatar threatening to resign if all the security agencies and linked revenue is not directly under his command.

Puntland Vice President Hassan Dahir Afqura, speaking at a press conference in the capital Garowe, said today that the Puntland government welcomes everyone to the region, but will "deal harshly" with criminals.

The Vice President defended the administration's decision to send back people flying in from Mogadishu, whom he accused of being insurgent recruits on their way to "training camps in Hargeisa," capital of the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland.

He also criticized a recent Human Rights Watch report on Somalia, especially allegations of the mistreatment of prisoners inside Puntland jails.

Vice President Afqura urged New York-based HRW to "bring proof" regarding the mistreatment of inmates being held at prisons in Puntland.

Source: Garowe Online

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