Somali Auditor General sacked after bodyguards kill minister

Somalia’s Auditor General Dr Nur Jimale Farah was sacked on Thursday over the killing of Public Works Minister Abbas Abdullahi Sheikh Siraji on Wednesday.

The youngest minister in the new government was shot dead by bodyguards of the Auditor General near the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu.

They opened fire on his vehicle believing it was being driven by militants, officials said.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire announced the sack of Dr Farah after a cabinet meeting.

“The cabinet unanimously approved the sacking of the Auditor General so that authorities will begin full investigation,” Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman Yarisow was quoted by news portal Shabelle News.

31-year-old Abbas Abdullahi Sheik Siraji was appointed Minister of Public Works and Reconstruction by Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Kheyre in March this year.

The Somali government on Thursday arrested two soldiers who are bodyguards of the auditor general in connection with the minister’s killing.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed cut short his trip to Ethiopia and attended prayers for the minister who was buried on Thursday per Islamic customs.