Somalia Fires Police, Military Chiefs After Attack

By Hamsa Omar

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Somalia’s transitional government replaced its police and military commanders following a suicide bombing last week that killed four Cabinet ministers, as security officials warned of further attacks.

“After long discussions, the government decided to appoint new commanders for its police and military departments in order to provide security in general,” Abdi Hagi Gobdon, a government spokesman, told reporters in Mogadishu, the capital, yesterday.

Major-General Ali Mohamed Hassan Loyan will replace General Abdi Hassan Awale as police chief, while Major-General Mohamed Gelle Kahiya takes over from General Yusuf Hussein Dhumal as head of the military, Gobdon said.

At least 19 people died on Dec. 3 when a suicide bomber attacked a hotel in southern Mogadishu where a graduation ceremony was being held for medical students from Benadir University. Higher-Education Minister Ibrahim Adow, Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali and Education Minister Ahmed Abdullahi Wayel were killed in the blast, while Sports and Youth Minister Suleyman Olad Roble died on Dec. 5 from injuries sustained in the explosion.

Somalia’s government warned today that Islamist rebels are planning further suicide attacks in Modagishu.

“We have received through our intelligence sources information that the suicide bombers are planning to wage suicide attacks on the presidential palace, the harbor and the airport,” Colonel Abdulahi Hassan Barise, a police spokesman, told reporters in city today.

‘Really Happy’

Calls to Awale’s mobile-phone didn’t connect when Bloomberg News called him seeking comment. Dhumal said he was “really happy” about his departure as he plans to study abroad.

“I hope my successor gets support from Allah in his job because it is not so easy,” he said in a phone interview.

Somalia’s Western-backed government has been battling Islamist insurgents, including al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam, for the past two years. The rebels control most of southern and central Somalia. The country hasn’t had a functioning central administration since the ouster of the former dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, in 1991.

Al-Shabaab on Dec. 4 denied any involvement in the attack.

Hundreds of Somalis, most of them students, staged a march today through the streets of Mogadishu today to protest the suicide bombing. The other victims in the blast included doctors, students, reporters and civilians.

“Students are the cornerstone of any nation in the world and there is no reason to target them,” Afrah Abdulahi Muse, a third-year student who was among the protestors, said in an interview. “Those who killed our classmates will be brought to justice.”