Garowe Online (Garowe)
2 October 2008
Fifteen police officers accused of various crimes against the public were arrested in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reported Thursday.
"These officers, who are now in our custody, were caught while engaged in acts of robbery, looting and murder," said Gen. Abdi Qeybdiid, the country's national police commissioner.
He indicated that the national police command took decisive action against officers engaged in criminal activities after public complaints of harassment.
"All police stations will resume their operations to prevent crime," said Gen. Qeydiid, while speaking at his first press conference in months.
In Baidoa, where the Somali parliament is based, at least two people were killed in separate incidents overnight Wednesday.
Col. Adan Ali Amin, Baidoa's police chief, told reporters an explosion targeted police officers on duty.
"It was a hand grenade," Col. Amin said, adding that two police officers were injured.
A child died at the scene and at least four other people were wounded by the blast, witnesses and officials added.
In a separate incident, a local government employee was shot and killed while eating at a restaurant and the assassins evaded capture.
Insecurity remains to be the four-year-old Somali transitional government's main challenge, with Islamist insurgents opposed to Ethiopian troops responsible for most of the anti-government guerrilla attacks.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Garowe Online. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
