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Police Chief killed in bombing in southern Somalia

October 1, 2022 at 9:46 am

Ambulances are seen at the site after a bomb exploded near a police convoy in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on July 10, 2021. [Sadak Mohamed – Anadolu Agency]

A Somali Police Chief was killed yesterday in an explosion targeting his convoy in the Middle

Shabelle region to the south of the country, according to the Interior Minister.

Interior Minister, Ahmed Moallem, said on Facebook that “Police Commissioner, Farhan Mohamoud Adan – known as Farhan Qarole – was killed in an explosion targeting his convoy” in the region.

Security sources told Anadolu news agency that Mohamoud’s convoy was bombed the moment it passed into the Labondo area, returning from the town of Basra, which was liberated on Friday from the grip of the Al-Shabaab movement.

The same sources added that the explosion killed the security official and 4 of his bodyguards.

In a related context, the Somali army announced, on Friday, the liberation of 5 towns from Al-Shabaab’s control, including the town of Basra, after confrontations with the movement’s fighters.

According to Sawt El-Jaish (official) radio, the confrontations resulted in the death of five members of the movement.

The town of Basra is considered a strategic location for the movement, as it links the regions of Lower and Middle Shabelle.

No immediate comment was released by the movement on these developments until 17:15 GMT.

This comes at a time when some regions of Somalia are witnessing security operations conducted by government forces in cooperation with armed tribal militias against Al-Shabaab fighters in the south and centre of the country.

For years, Somalia has been waging a war against Al-Shabaab, which was founded in early 2004, an armed movement ideologically affiliated with Al-Qaeda, which has claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist operations that have claimed hundreds of lives.

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