Security forces in Bossasso, the commercial capital of Puntland state have arrested three suspects in connection with the murder of Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware, the chief judge of Bossasso 1st magistrate court.

The three men were nabbed in operations mounted by the forces shortly after the murder of the judge on Wednesday night.

Sheikh Aware was brutally murdered by armed hooded men shortly after leaving a mosque in the town.

His death comes days after he sentenced to jail terms, four people affiliated with Somali hard line insurgent group Al-Shabaab.

Police are questioning the suspects who are currently held in Bossasso. However, sources within the police say one of them is suspected to be the real slayer.

Authorities in Puntland are suspecting the insecurity in some of its territories is caused by the infiltration of some militant ruminants that are fighting the fragile UN-backed Somali government in central and southern Somalia.