Somali minister shot dead by auditor general's bodyguards

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A police officer says bodyguards for Somalia's auditor general have shot dead a government minister near the presidential palace.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein says bodyguards escorting Nur Farah opened fire on a car carrying Abbas Abdullahi, the public works and reconstruction minister, near a checkpoint close to the presidential palace Wednesday evening.

It is not immediately clear what prompted the shooting.

Somalia's new cabinet was sworn in in late March after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was elected in February.