Thursday August 26, 2021
MOGADISHU (HOL) - The man behind the killing of three police officers and a security guard near the French embassy in Dar es Salaam Wednesday is the brother of a former Al-Shabaab operative who was killed a while back in central Somalia, HOL can authoritatively reveal.
A close source to the now deceased assailant who spoke on condition of anonymity to HOL said the 30 year old man whose records indicate he was born on November 17, 1991 had been under the police radar for some time.
His name according to records is Hamza Hassan Mohamed.
“He had been tracked and watched by police here for sometime and may have decided to bring the surveillance to an end,” the source said.
According to the source, Mohamed had travelled a while back from Somalia where his brother was fighting for Al-Shabaab before he was killed in Elbur in central Somalia region of Galgadud.
HOL has also learnt that Mohamed’s two brothers and mother have since been arrested by security forces in a town on the border between Tanzania and Zambia where they had been living.
The suspected terrorist who was later gunned down opened fire at three policemen at a check point, grabbed another gun from one of the fallen officers and shot dead a security guard nearby.
It was not immediately clear if his target was the French embassy which is located near the scene of the incident.