Muslim Commander Slain by Gunmen

Unidentified gunmen have shot and killed a Muslim fundamentalist commander whose group has been seeking to unite an eastern Ethiopia region with Somalia, witnesses said. Col. Abdullahi Irad, a commander in the Al-Itihad Al-Islamia group, was shot Thursday by four men in a taxi outside a mosque in Mogadishu, the capital, where he had just attended prayers, witnesses said. Relatives said Irad’s family and Al-Itihad officials suspect that he was killed by Ethiopian agents. Irad has for the past seven years organized raids to the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, which Al-Itihad wants joined with Somalia. Ogaden is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Somalis.