Official Is Slain in Baidoa; Hundreds Riot

A Cabinet member was assassinated as he left a mosque in Baidoa, sparking a riot by hundreds of Somalis. It was the second shooting of an official this week and the latest blow to the transitional government, which has watched helplessly as Islamic militants have seized the capital, Mogadishu, and much of southern Somalia.

Seven people were arrested after the killing of Abdallah Deerow Isaaq, the minister for constitutional and federal affairs, but police said they had no further details.

Two days earlier, Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed, chairman of the parliamentary committee for constitutional affairs, was wounded.