Body of Mogadishu mayor to be buried in the capital as country mourns

[Deeq A.]

The body of the late Banadir Region Governor and Mogadishu mayor, Eng Abdirahman Omar Osman (Yarisow), who last Thursday succumbed to injuries sustained in a deadly Al-Shabaab suicide attack in Mogadishu, will be buried in the capital on Saturday, the government has announced.

A commission has been named to organise a state burial for the former governor, whose death puts into sharp focus just how dangerous the militant group Al-Shabaab is proving to be.

His body will be flown from Qatar, where he died as he was undergoing treatment, to Mogadishu by a private plane.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has announced three days of mourning over the governor’s death.

A woman blew herself up at the meeting hall of the Banadir administration headquarters on 24 July, killing three district commissioners and wounding Yarisow. Several other officials were also killed in the attack.

A number of other officials, who were also wounded in the attack, are still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Doha, Qatar.

Al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said the target was UN envoy to Somalia James Swan, who left the building shortly before the explosion after meeting the governor.

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