Somali president replaces security chiefs, appoints new Mogadishu mayor

Somalia’s president announced late this week a major shake-up of the country’s security chiefs as well as a replacement for the mayor of Mogadishu after Abdirahman Omar Osman died of his wounds following a suicide bomb attack last month.

Al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab, which aims to topple Somalia’s U.N.-backed government, claimed responsibility for the bombing of Osman’s office by a blind female member of his staff.

Omar Mohamud Mohamed takes the place of the late mayor, who had fled Somalia for Britain as a refugee and earned years of experience as a councillor in London before deciding to return home to help rebuild his war-torn country.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo selected new heads of national intelligence, police and army, his office said in a statement.

Former journalist Fahad Yasin, becomes head of the National Intelligence Security Agency (NISA), after performing the role as acting chief for the last 10 months.

Commander of operations in the army Odowa Yusuf Rage was named overall commander of the military, while Abdi Hassan Mohamed Hajar will head up the police.