Friday September 30, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - Mogadishu's Police Commissioner, Farhan Mohamoud Adan 'Qarole', was killed in a roadside bomb attack near Bal'ad district, 35km north of Mogadishu, on Friday morning.
The attack happened during security operations targeting the Basra area in Middle Shabelle.
Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur told Somali state media that the operations in Basra began in the early hours of Friday morning and that the SNA faced no resistance from Al Shabaab.
Sources say that Qarole's convoy struck a roadside bomb that the militant group planted before evacuating the Basra area, a strategic region that connects the Lower and Middle Shabelle.
There are expected to be other casualties.
Farhan Qarole was the ex-commander of the Haramacad forces and took over as the Banadir regional police chief from Sadak Omar Hassan 'Sadak John' in April 2021.
Qarole survived at least two previous assassination attempts while Banadir's police chief, including an attack in July 2021 that killed nine people and a recent attack days before the presidential election in May that killed eight.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, a spokesperson for the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabaab, told Reuters it was responsible for the May attack.
This story is developing.