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Somalia Fires Police Commissioner and Head of Intelligence

Somalia Fires Police Commissioner and Head of Intelligence

(Bloomberg) -- Somalia’s government fired its police chief and the head of the nation’s intelligence agency at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, state-owned Radio Mogadishu reported, citing Security Minister Mohamed Abukar Islow.

Abdullahi Mohamed Ali and Abdihakim Dahir Saacid were relieved of their duties after security lapses that resulted in a truck bomb that killed more than 300 people on Oct. 14, the nation’s deadliest single attack, according to the report.

The two officials were fired a day after al-Shabaab militia detonated two car bombs in the capital, Mogadishu, killing 26 people. The al-Qaeda-linked group has waged a decade-long war to impose its version of Islamic law in Somalia. While al-Shabaab was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, it still stages regular gun and bomb attacks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu at msheikhnor@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Eric Ombok, Helen Nyambura

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