Mogadishu, Oct 20 (Xinhua) A senior official of the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) was shot dead by unknown gunmen in southern Somali town of Hudur, witnesses said Sunday. Muqtar Mohamed Hassan, head of water and sanitation programme of the Unicef, is the second official of a UN agency to be killed in southern Somalia this week.

“We heard gun shots near where we were sitting. Then we found Muqtar dead. The gunmen escaped,” a witness told Xinhua requesting anonymity.

Hudur is the provincial capital of Bakool, 430 km southwest of Somali capital Mogadishu. The province is under the control of al-Shabaab Islamist movement, which late last month banned the operation of two international aid agencies and issued warning to others.