MOGADISHU, Somalia Oct 29 (Garowe Online) - The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) unloaded a shipload of weapons at Mogadishu port Wednesday, a day after a senior police official was gunned down in neighboring Lower Shabelle region.

Local sources told Garowe Online that the weapons shipment included tanks and armored personnel carriers, most of which were delivered to AMISOM troops from Burundi.

Recently, AMISOM spokesman Bahoku Barigye told reporters that the 3,200-strong peacekeeping force from Uganda and Burundi welcomes the move to take over bases from withdrawing Ethiopian forces.

A peace deal signed between the Somali interim government and its political opposition provided a timetable for Ethiopian forces to withdraw within 120, starting on November 21.

Commander killed

An ex-police commander who defied Somalia's president was killed in a roadside bombing Tuesday in the port town of Marka, sources said.

Nuriye Ali Farah, formerly a senior police official, was killed alongside his driver and one of his bodyguards.

At least seven other people, including security official Mohamed Arab Mohamud, were wounded during the heavy explosion.

The late Nuriye Ali was deputy police commander of Lower Shabelle region until August, when President Abdullahi Yusuf issued a decree dismissing him from office.

But Nuriye remained defiant and most recently blamed the Somali government for a string of assassinations in Marka.

He was first appointed to the region by Yusuf Indha Ade, an ex-warlord who joined the Islamic Courts Union in 2006.

Source: Garowe Online