Somalilandsun- An eyewitness on the killing of two Europeans working for the United Nations in Somalia explained what really happened in Galkayo airport where two UN consultants were shot dead on Monday.
Two European, British and French, were shot dead in Somalia’s Puntland region on Monday, after a gunman attacked them with AK-47, eyewitness told SIR. The eyewitness who requested his identity to remain anonymous told Somali Investigative Reports (SIR) that when the two UN workers got off the plane and entered the immigration office, the attacker started to shoot them.
“He [the attacker] looked like that he has been sleeping all the day and just woke up at that time. He looked at people as he was searching for someone and then he went back.” The eyewitness said, “We suddenly heard the gunfire and I saw a white man with passport in his hand laid down on the floor. Another shouting white man ran towards us, while the man we saw at the first and now with AK-47 gun appeared. That was the time everyone got scared and started to run away.” He added. The eyewitness stated that the attacker shoot the UN worker till he assumed he is dead.
Answering what the airport guards were doing when the attacker was killing people, the eyewitness said, “None of them were armed, they were like us and running among us.”
Meeting with the killer
During that state of anarchy in the airport, the eyewitness mentioned that he met the killer, “I was trying to run away, but I came across the killer face-to-face and I assumed that I’m dead, but he said to me, ‘Cool down, I’m not killing you. I did what I wanted to do.” The eyewitness told SIR, “Then, he sat down on a chair and put the gun aside, like he did nothing at all.” He added.
When the eyewitness was asked if he thinks that the killer looked like mentally ill person, he said “In my point of view, he does not look like that, because If he is mentally ill, he would shoot everyone in the airport indiscriminately but he has been trying to avoid anybody else to get hurt and was targeting the two foreigners only. When he finishes shooting, he calmly sat on a chair.” he said.
The two men were working for United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).
UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov and UN officials strongly condemned the killing and pointed it as cruel and senseless attack. Other countries also condemned the attack on the UN officials.
The two bodies were flown to Nairobi today from Galkayo.
©Somali Investigative Reports (SIR)
