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Militant Islamist group al-Shabaab on Saturday vowed to kill more Somali ministers a day after assassinating the Minister of Interior and National Security, Abdi Shakur Sheikh Hasan Farah, at his home.
“We have prepared missions to kill every so-called minister, who are workers of the infidels,” Sheikh Ali Dhere told journalists in Mogadishu. “I am warning ministers that AMISOM (as the African Union peacekeeping mission is known) tanks will not save you, we shall kill you in your offices, streets and your houses, as we have done to Abdi Shakur.”
The minister died at his home after an explosion believed to have been a suicide attack carried out by his niece. Sources reported that the minister's brother, Abdiqadir Hirsi Qaaf, was the father of the female bomber. The girl had apparently been in the minister's home around noon asking him to send her to university. Other sources say the girl was his second cousin.
However, Ali Dhere said these reports were false.
“They are saying a girl was behind the incident, do you expect that from innocent Somlia women? Al-shabaab killed that man, we fixed an explosive device to his bed,” he said.
The insurgent group has lost ground to a government offensive in recent months, but has carried out two suicide attacks in the last two days as it seeks to take advantage of massive protests against Sheikh Sharif and the parliamentary speaker for striking a deal that calls on Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to resign and a new cabinet to be formed.