Gunmen killed a prominent Somali peace activist at home in front of his wife in Mogadishu yesterday.
The unidentified attackers shot Abdulkadir Yahya Ali, co-founder of the Centre for Research and Dialogue, inside his home early yesterday, a UN official said.
The attackers scaled the wall of his compound, handcuffed his guards, ordered Mr Yahya to hand over his laptop and then shot him dead, the official told Reuters in Nairobi.
A family member said there were 10 assailants and that they had cut the phone lines before killing him. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, nor what motivated it.
Somalia, which has suffered 14 years of bloodshed and hunger that flourished in the absence of a central government, remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with Mogadishu its single deadliest location.
Mr Yahya's killing follows several attack on people with foreign links working in Somalia, among them aid workers and a producer with Britain's BBC broadcaster, shot dead in February.
The Centre for Research and Dialogue is considered among the most effective non-governmental organisations in Somalia, and it is affiliated with the Geneva-based War-Torn Societies Project International.
The centre also worked closely with the International Crisis Group think-tank, which released a report over the weekend identifying a new al-Qaeda-linked group working in Somalia.