MADAGASCAR’S minister in charge of security was shot and injured by men wearing police uniforms who had been seeking to extort money from one of his friends, hospital sources said on Friday. Secretary of State for Public Security Azaly Ben Marofo, whose brief includes the police, was wounded late on Thursday in the stomach and the hand, but his life was not in danger, the sources said. A local government source said Ben Marofo, a 55-year-old Muslim, was visiting a friend, a wealthy trader of south Asian origin, when uniformed men broke into the trader’s house with the apparent intention of extorting money from him. The businessman told the men “to go upstairs and ask your boss” about their demand for money. The attackers then shot Ben Marofo before fleeing. – AFP