WUNRN
Somalia - Woman Member of
Parliament, Musician, Shot & Killed
Saado Ali Warsame, who continued to perform after becoming an MP
Popular Somali musician and member of parliament Saado Ali Warsame has been shot dead by Islamist militants.
She was killed along with a civil servant in a drive-by shooting
in the Somali capital,
A spokesman for the Islamist al-Shabab group, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, told the BBC that she was targeted for her politics and not her music.
The BBC's Mohammed Moalimu in
The al-Qaeda-aligned al-Shabab group advocates the strict Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam and is battling the UN-backed government to create an Islamic state.
Daring career
Ms Warsame rose to fame during the time of former President Siad Barre, who was overthrown in 1991, with her songs which were critical of his rule.
The song that made her famous was called Land Cruiser in which she said Mr Barre and his officials were buying expensive cars and then asking for aid to feed starving people.
She spent much of the civil war in the
BBC Somali Service's Abdullahi Abdi says Ms Warsame will be remembered most for her daring musical career.
She was one of the few Somali
female musicians to go on stage without covering her head and she sometimes
wore trousers, which is highly unusual for women in
The singer song-writer continued to perform even after taking up her position in parliament.
UN envoy Nicholas Kay condemned the assassination and said Ms
Warsame's loss would be felt across
Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said that the she had
"not only worked tirelessly in the political arena of
"Her work as a committed patriot will never be forgotten," he said in a statement.
But since al-Shabab lost control of
The militants have continued to carry out attacks in
Some 22,000 African Union troops are helping the government to try and win back territory from the group.
They have taken back several key cities over the last three
years, but al-Shabab still controls many smaller towns and rural areas of the
country where it has imposed Sharia and banned music which it regards as
un-Islamic.