Mogadishu  - Outspoken Somali lawmaker Mohamed Osman Maye was shot dead outside a mosque near the seat of Somalia's parliament in the town of Baidoa by unidentified armed men late Tuesday, witnesses said.

"Maye was shot dead by several bullets to the head as he was coming out of the mosque" witness Dahir Ali Muse told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "He died on the spot in front of the mosque."

Maye was an associate of President Abdullahi Yusuf. He was also a member of an association of Somali minority clans in Banadir and lower Shabelle region.

It was the second murder of a lawmaker in Baidoa after the transitional federal government was formed in Kenya in 2004. There have also been several night-time grenade attacks on lawmakers' homes. (dpa)