The United Nations Monday condemned the killing of the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Somalia, who was shot as he left a mosque near his home in the capital, Mogadishu.
Osman Ali Ahmed was shot by three men armed with pistols on Sunday evening in Bula Hubey, south Mogadishu, witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"Osman Ali Ahmed was a highly respected UNDP staff member who had performed his duties with great courage and commitment over the past 14 years," the UN's Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said in a statement.
Aid workers have been increasingly targeted for attacks and abduction since the man believed to be al-Qaeda's top operative in Somalia, Aden Hashi Ayro, was killed on May 1 in a US airstrike.
Ayro was the leader of Islamic militant group al-Shabaab, the armed wing of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). Al-Shabaab said it would target foreign troops and workers to avenge Ayro's death.
The head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR's Mogadishu programme was recently kidnapped and is still being held.
Several other aid workers have been held captive for months, and the World Food Programme has seen three of its drivers slain this year.
"If this is indeed another example of a targeted killing of UN and non-UN humanitarian and development workers in Somalia, it is particularly outrageous and worrying at this critical time, when the need for humanitarian assistance is rapidly increasing," Bowden said.
The UN said that it was taking urgent measures to protect staff working Somalia, which is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.
A combination of conflict, drought and rising food and fuel prices means that millions of Somalis are dependent on humanitarian aid. Bowden said that aid work would continue despite the increasing danger to UN staff.
Militants have been waging a guerrilla war against government troops since the UIC was ousted from power at the beginning of 2007 with Ethiopian assistance.
The interim government has been unable to achieve stability in the Horn of Africa country, which has been plagued by chaos and civil war since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.
A peace deal was agreed between moderate Islamists and the government in early June, but al-Shabaab has not signed the agreement and has vowed to keep fighting until Ethiopian troops leave Somalia.