MOGADISHU, Somalia Sep 30 (Garowe Online) - Senseless killings continued in the Somali capital Mogadishu Sunday where a local army officer was gunned down and three other civilians killed in separate incidents.

Col. Ahmed "Dhega Bala" Haji, an army officer with the regional government, was shot in the head and died on the scene at Suuk Ba'ad, the second largest market in Mogadishu.

The attackers fled in the ensuing chaos, witnesses said.

Police units who rushed to the scene were unable to capture the killers. Last week, two policemen on tax collection duty were gunned down in the same market in broad daylight.

In Mogadishu's notorious Bakara market, two men armed with pistols killed an unidentified civilian male who was shopping at the time.

The gunmen later escaped into the chaotic crowd.

Minutes later, in a part of Bakara not far way, two civilians were shot to death as they walked. It was not clear whether or not the same killers were responsible for the murders.

The bodies of the two men lay on the ground for some time, according to shop owners. A pistol was found in one of the victims' pockets, witnesses said.

There was no apparent motive for the murder of the three men. But the killings are part of a series of unsolved murders that have rocked Mogadishu since January when Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's interim government arrived.

Source: Garowe Online