[allAfrica.com] Puntland Security Minister's Bodyguard Killed in Bossaso Shootout Garowe Online (Garowe) NEWS 1 May 2008 Posted to the web 2 May 2008 A shootout erupted abruptly Thursday in the northern Somali port city of Bossaso, 1500km north of the capital Mogadishu, witnesses and officials said. There was confusion as to how the fighting started, but locals said the gunfight was strictly between a group of unidentified armed combatants and the bodyguards of Puntland Security Minister Abdullahi Said Samatar. Some sources suggested that Security Minister Samatar's bodyguards launched a planned attack on a group of armed men suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of foreigners in Bossaso in the recent past. Other sources said the suspected kidnappers received word that Puntland security forces were looking to apprehend them, and so the suspected kidnappers ambushed the Security Minister's convoy in broad daylight. At least three men - two of the suspected kidnappers and one of the Security Minister's bodyguards - were confirmed dead at the scene. Witnesses reported that at least four others on both sides of the battle were wounded. Bossaso residents were worried about tens of young men armed with assault rifles who were reportedly preparing to join the fight against the Puntland government official. Tens of extra police reinforcements rushed to the area and were reported to have setup roadblocks inside Bossaso, although they did not directly join the fight. Emerging reports indicated to Garowe Online that Puntland soldiers from the town of Qardho, south of Bossaso, were dispatched from their bases to reinforce the Security Minister's men. In recent months, security has been deteriorating in Puntland towns, with increasing reports of shootouts, kidnappings and piracy along the coast. Earlier this week, an Australia-based mining firm, Range Resources, Ltd., announced that the company and its partners had decided to "delay" efforts to begin drilling in Puntland for oil and gas. In its press statement, the company did not mention rising insecurity inside Puntland as the main reason for the delay, but stated that "civil unrest" in southern Somalia and "piracy" along the Horn of Africa country's coastlines are causing major logistical problems for the delivery of heavy drilling equipment. ======================================================================================== Copyright © 2008 Garowe Online. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ======================================================================================== [images//media.fastclick.net/w/ get.media?sid=7943&m=1&tp=1&d=s&c=1&f=b&v=1.4]