Somaliland:Puntland militias kill senior army officer in Road Ambush

[Deeq A.]

 

By M.A. Egge
Hargeisa-The Puntland militia has in in an unprecedented tactic mounted a road ambush that has fatally claimed the life of a senior army official and at the same time seriously wounding Taleeh mayor in Haisimo, at a time the officials were indulged in distributing relief aid to needyresidents.

The late Lt Col. Suleiman Abdi Jama and Mayor Suleiman Haji Ahmed Diriye were officials who were part and parcel of a convoy of regional government delegation who were on duty distributing relief aid to the needy residents.
The delegation was led by the Regional Governor himself Mr. Abdirashid M. Ahmed Hiir who personally confirmed the incident to the Somaliland News Agency (SOLNA).

The RG reported that the ambush took place at around Dubuq-dubuq centre in the dead of the night of 6/7 July 2018.
The mid-night (12:00am) ambush cost the life the Taleeh army battalion based commander Lt. Col. Suleiman.

The Mayor who was in a comatose is reportedly in an ICU care in a Hargeisa Hospital. In a related story, the water development Minister Hon. Suleiman Ali Kore vowed that the loss of the officer will not be in vain hence warned of a strong measure to be meted out.

He decried the manner of the ambush which he termed as unprecedented for relief aid team to be subjected to. He said that such innuendo was unheard of hence underpinned the heightened in humanity depicted by the Puntlandersteenia militia in their perpetual incursions into the country.

An angry Hon. Suleiman Kore decried the banditry mode of ambush to a relief aid convoy terming it as barbaric. The minister who was flanked by veteran Guurti member Hon. Abdiqadir M. Hassan Indo-indo vowed that such perpetration would not be left to go scot-free. The Guurti MP echoed similar words.

He noted that the Taleeh mayor suffered several compound fractures and numerous gun shots and that he was in an intensive care unit. Some years ago the minister himself escaped similar scenario, surviving a scare in the same region.

Solna