PM Roble says Ikran Tahlil’s killers masterminded MP Amina’s assassination

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble says he believes the people behind the assassination of lawmaker Amina Mohamed Abdi last week were the masterminds behind the disappearance and likely murder of former intelligence agent Ikran Tahlil.

Prime Minister Roble made the remarks at a commemoration event in Mogadishu for the late MP Amina Mohamed Abdi.

“I’m as certain as death itself that those who killed Amina (Mohamed) were the same people who killed Ikran (Tahlil).”

Roble said hours before Amina’s assassination, he received threatening text messages targeting himself and MP Amina.

He said the intimidating messages emanated from an agreement between himself and Hirshabelle President Ali Gudlawe to remove the regional election commissioner.

PM Roble said he still has the text message in his possession.

MP Amina Mohamed Abdi was one of 48 people who were killed in Beledweyne last Wednesday. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

PM Roble promised to seek justice for Amina Mohamed and her family, saying that he would seek out those who masterminded the attack.

“Those who paid for the suicide bomber to blow himself up are still alive, who brought him Beledweyne, Hiiraan… Lord willing, we will be victorious against them.

Ikran Tahlil was a cybersecurity expert employed with Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA). She was abducted from her home near the NISA HQ on June 26 after her family said she allegedly received a phone call from her superiors to report to the office. She was last seen getting into the back of a vehicle near her home.

After nearly two months of mounting pressure, Somalia’s intelligence agency claimed that Al-Shabaab killed her without providing much evidence. Al Shabaab, which has waged a deadly insurgency against Somalia’s internationally-backed government for over a decade, denied they were part of the Ikran’s killing.