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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