Gunmen target Somali MP in assassination attempt

MOGADISHU, June 24 (Reuters) Gunmen tried to kill a Somali lawmaker in the latest assassination attempt on a government official in the violent Horn of Africa country.

Member of parliament Hussein Osman was in his house west of Mogadishu when gunmen opened fire last night. He told local media today he did not know who the assailants were.

''This was a well-planned plot to eliminate me,'' he was quoted as saying.

Witnesses said Osman's security guards repulsed the gunmen after a brief but heavy exchange of gunfire. No one was hurt.

Government officials have increasingly been targeted in attacks the interim administration blames on fighters loyal to an Islamist movement which briefly controlled much of southern Somalia before being ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian forces.

Somalia's presidential spokesman was shot twice at close range this week and earlier this month Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said al Qaeda was behind a suicide bombing that killed seven people outside his home in Mogadishu.

REUTERS SBC KP1759