MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) was not involved in the kidnapping and murder of Ikran Tahlil Farah, a female officer who had worked at one of the offices of the agency, Somali military prosecutor Abdullahi Bulo Kamey said on Sunday.
A committee named to probe the murder case had investigated allegations that the former spy boss Fahad Yasin, his deputy Abdullahi Kulane and the current acting director of the agency Yasin Farey and other officers had played a role in the murder, he added, speaking to the state television.
Ikran Tahlil’s family had filed a case at the Somali military court weeks after the disappearance of the young female spy and asked the court to issue a warrant for the arrest of alleged perpetrators of her kidnapping, including the former intelligence chief Fahad Yasin.
Mr Kamey said the government-appointed team reached a conclusion that NISA was not involved in Ikran’s abduction and murder, and heaped praise on the agency for cooperating with the investigation.
Somali military court informed the family of the missing female spy that the intelligence agency had refused to cooperate with the probe and give investigators access to surveillance cameras in and around its headquarters, parliamentarian Amina Mohamed said last month. Her account was later corroborated by a report aired by VOA Somali.
NISA claimed that Ikran Tahlil had been kidnapped and murdered by the Al-Qaeda-aligned militant group Al-Shabaab, but a number of government officials, including the prime minister and opposition leaders called its findings “unsatisfactory” and urged a thorough probe.
Weeks after an agreement between the president and prime minister on the issue has dimmed hope for a thoroughgoing investigation into the case, the military prosecutor announced that the probe will now focus on NISA claims that Al-Shabaab had kidnapped Ikran Tahlil from a heavy security area in Mogadishu and killed her in the Middle Juba region. The armed group denied involvement in the disappearance of the female spy.
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