Last week in Mogadishu, unidentified gunmen attacked Ann-Margarethe Livh, a Swedish diplomat, by a major intersection, killing her Somali translator and driver and leaving her seriously wounded.
This was the latest in a series of attacks in the city that have targeted foreigners and high profile Somali leaders. A bomb was recently placed in the car of a prominent businessman and a few days later a state-run radio station employee was gunned down and killed.
About 15 minutes before the attack on Livh, I happened to be driving by that same intersection.
Upon hearing of the attack, I was seized by an untrammeled flood of emotions that ranged from heartbreak at the senseless deaths, to anger at the assailants, to a guilty sense of relief that I had just missed the horrific incident.
The intent of the attack is not hard to discern…