By: Yusuf M Hasan
LAS ANOD (Somalilandsun) – Security personnel in Las Anod is in high alert following an assassination attempt on a civic leader.
Despite causing minor structural damages a suspected Improvised Explosive Device-IED meant to kill the mayor of Las anod Mr. Farah Abdi Yare failed to accomplish desired mission.
According to the Sool Regional Governor Mr. Mohamed Mahmoud Jiinyare unknown people threw an IED at the house of the mayor at around 9pm without causing any injuries on the mayor.
Governor Jiinyare informed that a police officer charged with the protection of the mayor sustained minor injuries from which he was treated at the local hospital and discharged. The officer’s injuries were caused by tiny fragments that flew in various directions when the IED exploded.
The intended victim Farah Abdi Yare has been the mayor of Las anod for a fortnight only having assumed the office from his predecessor Keyse Mohamed Haji Hussein who resigned recently.
The ex-mayor Councillor Keyse Mohamed Haji Hussein officially resigned as the Mayor of Las anod local council in what he termed as a protest against his arrest on suspicion of corruption that was effected by the Sool regional governor.
The former mayor of Las anod and his deputy Ahmed Aden Elmi were put in detention at the town’s central police station on the 18th July 2012on orders of the Sool regional governor Mr. Mohamed Mahmoud Ali ‘Jiinyare’ who claimed that his arrest authority emanated from the minister of interior in Hargeisa Hon Mohamed Nuur Arale ‘Duur’.
The Sool regional capital of Las anod is continuously becoming a risky post for public servants who seem to be targeted for assassination almost on a regular basis with the most recent attempt being against the regional intelligence chief.
The intelligence Chief Mr. Arab Qawdan escaped unscathed after a suspected hand grenade was thrown to his home in Las anod town around on 7th June at 10 pm (GMT +3) with a visiting relative and custodial corps officer losing his life in the process.
This was the second time for Mr. Arab Qawdan to escape an assassination attempt following the March 2011 attack in the same town where he sustained injuries while his then boss Assad Mire died on the spot. Mr. Qawdan was elevated to the top post as a replacement for the dead Mire.
The attack on the regional intelligence chief came exactly on the same day, same time a fortnight ago that the deputy regional prosecutor Mr. Ahmed Haji Mahmoud Aw Ali (Du’un Kalaha) was assassinated outside his house in the same town by now apprehended gunmen who peppered the late prosecutor with several bullets.
Sool region has over the years been a near impossible posting for security officers who are forced to deal with life threatening missions on an hourly and daily basis, due to the constant threats against central government officials that emanate from anti-Somaliland elements under the pay of Puntland.
