Somalia sacks police, intelligence heads after terror attacks

Somalia's heads of police and intelligence have been dismissed following a second terrorist attack in Mogadishu that claimed 23 lives two weeks after a truck bomb killed over 300 people.

Information Minister Abdirahman Osman Yarisow confirmed the sacking of National Intelligence Service Agency head Abdullahi Mohamed Ali "Sanbalolshe" and head of police Abdihakim Dahir Said.

"The cabinet resolved to fire the head of intelligence and police commander today," the minister said.

The sacking came barely hours after security forces battled throughout Saturday night to end a siege in Nasa Hablod II hotel in Mogadishu after the terror group Al-Shabaab detonated a bomb and made way into the hotel.

The attack followed the October 14 attack described as the deadliest in the country's history that claimed over 350 lives.

Sanbalolshe and Said were appointed on April 6 in a major security shake-up by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed barely two months after he came to office. Sanbalolshe had served in the same position for a short stint in 2014 before he was appointed the country's ambassador to Britain.

source: Xinhua