Opposition Albanian lawmaker shot dead near home

TIRANA, Albania — An Albanian lawmaker from the main opposition Socialist Party was shot and killed outside his home late Saturday, according to a police official.

Fatmir Xhindi,49, was killed in Roskovec, a city of 25,000 residents about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of the capital, Tirana, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with police department policy.

Xhindi was shot with a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, and the killers left the scene in a car, the official said, adding that the investigation was ongoing.

Neither police nor a spokeswoman for the Socialist Party identified a possible motive for the killing.

“We only know he was shot dead just near his home entrance,” Socialist Party spokeswoman Armela Ymeraj said in a telephone interview. “We don’t know of any conflict he had. He was such a good calm man and probably one of the few lawmakers who continued to live in his hometown after becoming a lawmaker.”

The Socialist Party leadership said Xhindi had just left an electoral meeting in his area. Xhindi was serving his third term in the Parliament. The government did not immediately make a statement on the killing.

The country, which became a member of NATO last month, is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections June 28.

Albania is a Balkan country of 3.6 million people bordering the Adriatic sea just north of Greece. It ended communist rule in 1990, but has struggled since then with high unemployment, widespread corruption, dilapidated infrastructure and organized crime.

It is thought to be a source of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation, and an increasingly active transshipment point for drugs from Southwest Asia.

Xhindi is survived by his wife and three children.