Somalia: Female spy agent killed in Mogadishu - source

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Suspected Al-Shabaab assailants have gunned down a female University student in Mogadishu, becoming the second to be killed in the Somali capital in a week, Garowe Online reports.

A witness said two pistol-wielding gunmen stormed University of Somalia [UNISO] campus in Bar Ubah area then shot dead Amino Hussein Hassan inside her classroom on Friday morning at around 11:00 a.m. local time after break-time.

Hassan, 35, was in her final year at UNISO University studying Law, according to her colleagues in education.

Such broad-light murder is yet heightening the level of insecurity in the Somali capital amidst the heavy presence of police personnel on the city's main streets.

Her classmate said the killers managed to escape the scene before the arrival of the Somali security forces who later took the lifeless body of Hassan to the Criminal Investigation Department for an investigation.

- Why the female student has been targeted?

A reliable Source within the Somali Intelligence Agency [NISA] has revealed to Garowe Online that slain female University student was an 'undercover agent'. However, GO could not independently verify that report. 

In the aftermath of the assassination, questions linger over how the killers recognized her identity and who leaked information about her personal operational profile as well as covert work to Al-Shabaab.

Last week, a member of Somalia's Parliamentary security committee disclosed that NISA has fired 200 agents become vulnerable to the threat of the extremists. It is unclear if Hassan was among the dismissed members.

The source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said NISA has been heavily infiltrated by Al-Shabab and came under the control of individuals linked to the group.

Last August, President Farmajo has appointed his right-hand man, Fahad Yasin as the deputy spy chief, replacing Abdalla Abdalla, who was sacked after revealing Al-Shabaab's infiltration into the agency.

Yasin, who maintains close links with Qatar has been under the spotlight over his former association of Al-Ittihad al-Islami the Islamic Courts Union that controlled parts of southern Somalia in 2006.

The ex-Al Jazeera Arabic journalist is said to have no any training in security matters and critics said he got the job through his closeness with President Farmajo after bankrolled his election in February 2017.

Somalia's capital has seen frequent bomb attacks at hotels and government buildings with the Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, which wants to topple the Western-backed government, often claiming responsibility. 

On 18th September 2018, a nine-year-old student, Deka Dahir died after bullets reportedly fired by government soldiers struck her school bus at the busy Digfer junction in Mogadishu.

Dahir's tragic killing His death sparked public outrage pour out on social media and Amnesty International has called on the government security agency to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators.

GAROWE ONLINE