Somalis mourn killed peace cleric

Sheikh Muhammad Ahmed Kashka, 55, was shot dead by two gunmen as he was returning home from a mosque on Monday.

In his last Friday sermon he condemned insurgents for targeting people who worked for the transitional government.

Ethiopian troops backing the government ousted the Union of Islamic Courts from Mogadishu in December 2006.

Since then many government officials have been assassinated by Islamist insurgents - including at least 10 of Mogadishu's 17 district commissioners.

Somalia's security nightmare

All government associates are targets from tax collectors to businessmen felt to be backing the administration.

Correspondents say officials drive at break-neck speed through the streets of the city fearing attacks.

But a BBC correspondent in Mogadishu says it is not clear if the cleric, who was an imam in the Medina district of the city, was killed because of his sermon.

The UN estimates that violence in Mogadishu has forced 60% of the city's residents to flee and last month it warned that Somalia was the world's "forgotten crisis".

So far only 2,400 African Union peacekeepers have been sent to Somalia, of a planned 8,000-strong force.

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