Nun gunned down in suspected Muslim revenge attack

Gunmen killed an Italian nun and her bodyguard at the entrance of a hospital where she worked in Somalia, in an attack some feared could be linked to Muslim outrage over the Pope’s recent remarks about Islam, officials said today.

The nun, who has not been identified, was shot in the back four times by two gunmen armed with pistols, said Dr Mohamed Yusef.

Witnesses and hospital officials said the shooting took place at S.O.S. Hospital for women and children in northern Mogadishu.

One person has been arrested, said Yusuf Mohamed Siad, head of security for the Islamic courts now controlling the capital.

He said they were looking for one other man who escaped.

“They could be people annoyed by the Pope’s speech, which angered all Muslims in the world, or it could have been something to do with S.O.S,” he said. “We will have to clarify this through our investigation.”

The nun, who spoke fluent Somali, was believed to be around age 60 and had been working at the hospital since 2002, witnesses said.

Like many foreigners, she travelled with a bodyguard in Somalia, which sank into anarchy after warlords overthrew the country’s long-time dictator in 1991.

Islamic fundamentalists have stepped into the political and security vacuum, seizing control of the capital and much of the south of Somalia and imposing strict religious rule.

The Islamic courts are credited with bringing a semblance of order to the country, but the West fears the emergence of a Taliban-style regime.

Several witnesses blamed today’s shooting on the recent controversy over a speech Pope Benedict XVI made in Germany on Tuesday on Islam in which he quoted a Medieval text calling the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings “evil and inhuman”.

“I am sure the killers were angered by the Pope’s speech in which he attacked our prophet,” said Ashe Ahmed Ali, one of the many who witnessed the shooting.

“These gunmen always look for white people to kill, and now the pope gave them the reason to do their worst,” said Mohamud Durguf Derow, another witness.

Earlier today, a leading Muslim cleric in Somalia condemned the pope for causing offence to Muslims.

“The Pope’s statement at this time was not only wrong but irresponsible as well,” said Sheikh Nor Barud, deputy leader of the Somali Muslim Scholars Association.

“Both the Pope and the Byzantine emperor he quoted are ignorant of Islam and its noble prophet,” he told a news conference in Mogadishu.

A Vatican spokesman called the nun’s slaying “a horrible episode”, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

“Let’s hope that it will be an isolated fact,” the Rev Federico Lombardi said, expressing hopes for an end to the Muslim anger over Benedict’s comments.

The Vatican is “following with concern the consequences of this wave of hate, hoping that it does not lead to grave consequences for the church in the world,”, he was quoted as saying.