The attack has been claimed by al-Shabab, the armed group fighting the Somali government for control of the country.

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 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.

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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.

Nairobi attack

Earlier this week, the US army said it had killed at least 24 al-Shabab members in an air raid on a camp near Shebeeley in Hiran region, central Somalia.

The raid came two weeks after some 21 people were killed in an attack on a Nairobi hotel complex in January, which was claimed by the al-Shabab group.

Shortly after the siege ended, Kenyan security forces conducted a number of raids in various locations and picked up suspects.

At least 11 people have been taken into custody in connection with that attack.

Nairobi announced days later that private security officers guarding public spaces such as malls, supermarkets and private premises, would be given guns for the first time.