Baidoa — The deputy minister for the reconciliation, Ismail Hassan Timir has been assassinated in Baidoa, the seat of the transitional parliament witnesses said on Saturday evening.

Residents say three gunmen armed with pistols shot him sitting in a Hotel in Baidoa and the killers ran away after the shooting.

"He was sitting on a chair in front of the hotel chatting with his friends when he was killed and I do not know the identity of the killers and the motive behind it," a resident said.

"The attackers shot him at point blank range and he died instantly," he added

Somali insurgents are accused of assassinating government officials and the people who are very close to the government.

Comments were not available from the government officials about the shooting.