Somalia appoints new police, intelligence chiefs
The Somali government announced Monday it has appointed new police and intelligence chiefs, nearly four months after their predecessors were sacked following the deadliest ever terror attack in the war-torn nation.
Former deputy health minister Hussein Osman Hussein has been named head of Somalia’s intelligence service, while deputy head of police Bashir Abdi Mohamed has been promoted to police chief, in a country that faces frequent attacks by Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants.
Their predecessors were sacked on October 29, a day after an attack that left 27 people dead, and just two weeks after 512 people were murdered in a truck bombing in Mogadishu on October 14.
No group ever claimed responsibility for the truck bombing, but the authorities have no doubt the Shabaab was behind Somalia’s worst-ever attack.
The Shabaab lost its foothold in Mogadishu in 2011, but has continued its fight and still controls large swathes of the countryside.
Al-Shabaab have been trying since 2007 to overthrow the Somali government, which has the support of the international community.
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