A judge in northern Somalia has been shot dead. Most of the cases tried by Mohamed Abdi Aware involved Somali pirates and members of a militant rebel group.

Two masked men opened fire on him as he left a mosque in Bossaso, a port town in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Three people have been arrested in connection with the murder.

Somalia's pirates, who have recently begun operating increasingly further into the Indian Ocean, are largely based in Puntland. At the moment, heavily armed pirates are holding hostage at least 13 ships with a total of more than 230 people on board.

photo: flickr/doneastwest