Somali minister assassinated outside mosque

BAIDOA, Somalia, July 28 (Reuters) Gunmen shot dead a Somali minister outside a mosque today at the fragile interim government's provincial base Baidoa in what one official called an ''organised assassination''.

Witnesses said gunmen opened fire on Constitution and Federalism Minister Abdallah Deerow Isaq as he left prayers - an attack sure to heighten tensions in the violence-plagued Horn of Africa nation which many fear is sliding towards war.

''So far we do not know who did it. They shot him as he was leaving the mosque then ran off. Police are chasing the gunmen,'' Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayr told Reuters from Baidoa, seat of the fragile interim Somali government.

''It looks like an organised assassination,'' he added.

Formed in 2004 in the 14th attempt to restore central rule to Somalia since the 1991 ousting of a military dictator, the government's authority has been challenged by the rise of an Islamist movement that took Mogadishu and other towns in June.

With Ethiopian troops said to be in Somalia to support the government, and Eritrea believed by many to be arming the Islamists, many Somalis are bracing for full-scale conflict.

A Baidoa hospital nurse said Isaq, a former schoolteacher, came in with four bullet wounds in the heart and chest.

''The doctors tried to check him but he was already dead,'' she told Reuters by telephone.

There was no immediate reaction from the Islamists.

In Mogadishu, another mysterious plane landed today, fuelling suspicions the Islamists were receiving weapon deliveries. Their militia blocked roads near the airport as unidentified cargo was unloaded.

Residents said several trucks came to collect the delivery from the airport. ''The Islamists are arming themselves and now we have to wait for fighting,'' said resident Abdullahi Ali.

RESIGNATIONS The Islamists recently reopened the airport. Since then, three planes have landed. The first collected a delegation of Islamists for peace talks in Khartoum.

On Wednesday, a cargo plane delivered goods an Islamist aide said were sewing machines. But the government pointed the finger at Eritrea, which it said was secretly arming the Islamists.

In what government sources say were moves to draw the Islamists into peace talks and avert war, 18 ministers and other top officials quit the interim government on Thursday and lawmakers sought to oust the Prime Minister.

Regional diplomats and analysts say offering the prime minister's job and some other ministerial posts to the Islamists could be the only way to secure peace.

But there is no guarantee the Islamists will accept this. Nor is it clear how long it might take to thrash out a deal.

The Islamists' most powerful leader, hardline cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has ruled out any meeting unless Ethiopia stops its ''invasion'' of Somalia.

Ethiopia, which is allied to President Abdullahi Yusuf's government, denies sending troops and has also accused old foe Eritrea of supplying arms to the Islamists.

The United Nations has an arms embargo on Somalia. But it has been ignored for years, and the nation of 10 million people is awash with light and heavy weaponry.

REUTERS PKS ND1828