A leading figure in the Somali-based al-Qaida-affiliated Shebab movement has died in Somalia, the Islamic militant group said Thursday.

In a death announcement and obituary carried by jihadist media, the Shebab said Sheikh Hassan Abdulahi Turki, known as Hassan Turki, died on Wednesday evening in the Middle Juba region south of the capital Mogadishu. Turki was in his 70s and suffered from poor health.

Gunmen shot dead a Somali member of parliament and wounded another in the capital Mogadishu Saturday, security officials said, the latest in a string of assassinations of politicians in the war-torn country.

Lawmaker Yusuf Dirir Abdi was driving with another MP through the streets of the capital when gunmen in a minibus -- apparently done up to look like an ambulance -- pulled alongside and sprayed the vehicle with bullets, killing Abdi, and wounding his colleague and driver.

Islamist gunmen raided a village in northeastern Kenya, the interior ministry said Friday, the latest in a string of brazen attacks by the Somali-led, al-Qaida affiliated insurgents.

There were no casualties reported in the remote village, close to the porous border with Somalia, and some 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of regional capital Garissa.

Somalia's al-Qaida-affiliated Shebab militants on Wednesday condemned Myanmar's "savage Buddhists" and urged Southeast Asia's Muslims to come to the aid of Rohingya Muslim boatpeople.

In a rare statement on an issue outside the Horn of Africa region, the Shebab told Muslims in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to "take the pivotal role in alleviating the suffering of the Muslims in Myanmar".

About 7,000 refugees have fled to Somalia from war-torn Yemen since a Saudi-led bombing campaign was launched, compounding the dire humanitarian situation in Somalia, a U.N. envoy said Wednesday.

Nicholas Kay, the special representative for Somalia, also warned the Security Council that vigilance was required to prevent al-Qaida-linked Shebab militants from getting fresh support from extremists in Yemen.

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza on Sunday made his first appearance since an attempted coup, looking relaxed and sending a clear message he was back in charge of the central African nation.

Dressed in a blue blazer and polo shirt, the president smiled and shook hands with reporters at the presidency in Bujumbura's city center. He gave only a brief statement, without even mentioning this week's attempt to overthrow him.

Uganda said Saturday it was boosting security measures following fresh threats against the east African nation by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels.

A statement by police said a new video purportedly from the Islamists and urging attacks in Uganda and Burundi -- nations that both contribute troops to the African Union's AMISOM force in Somalia -- has been circulated online.

Somalia's Al-Shebab Islamist militants have captured an Iranian fishing boat and its crew after it was forced to put into port due to mechanical failure, Iran's Fisheries Organization said Thursday.

"The 14 crew of the vessel are now in captivity and some of the Al-Shebab militants are on board" the privately-owned boat, fisheries chief Hassan Salehi said, quoted on state television's website.

Two Swedes and a Somali, handed to the FBI more than two years ago in Africa, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to aid the al-Qaida-linked Shebab group in Somalia, U.S. prosecutors said.

The trio face up to 15 years in an American prison and deportation, prosecutors said in New York.

Islamic militants have claimed responsibility for the assassination of a member of parliament on Friday in the semi-autonomous northern Somalia state of Puntland.

Lawmaker Said Hussein Nur was shot dead as he left a mosque after evening prayers.