Kasmaal  Independent Somali news and analysis website .

27 December 2016 – The United Nations and other members of the international community have voiced grave concern over recent decisions by Somalia’s National Leadership Forum (NLF) that contravenes the African country’s constitutional electoral processes. Currently, Somali’s Provisional Constitution allows for 54 seats in the Upper House of its parliament. Elections have already been held, […]

Two people were killed when suspected Al-Shabaab militants attacked a road construction camp at Dagaxkut, Wajir County on Friday evening. The attackers also destroyed a Safaricom communication mast and burnt sprayed a lorry and a water bowser with bullets before fleeing. Tarbaj Deputy County Commissioner Andrew Mwiti said the suspects then proceeded to the nearby […]

Kismayo, 22 December 2016 – Hundreds of youths yesterday turned up for police recruitment exercise conducted by AMISOM and Somali Police in Kismayo. The exercise targets to recruit 200 young men and women to undergo a three-month police training before deployment to various parts of the federal state to boost security and maintain law and […]

Photo: DPA A police car blocks an entrance to the Christmas market. Photo: DPA German police said Tuesday they were treating as “a probable terrorist attack” the killing of 12 people when a truck ploughed through a packed Berlin Christmas market. Dozens more were wounded on Monday when the truck tore through the crowd, smashing through wooden stalls […]

Russia’s ambassador to Ankara, Andrey Karlov, was shot in the back multiple times [AP] Russia’s ambassador to Ankara has been killed in a gun attack in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Russia’s foreign ministry said. Police later killed the assailant, Turkish station NTV reported. Andrey Karlov, 62, was several minutes into a speech at an embassy-sponsored […]

Beyond drifts of snow at the gates of Ottawa Muslim Cemetery on Sunday, grief-stricken mourners said farewell to slain sisters Asma and Nasiba A-Noor, who in life touched many by their devotion to family, community and the Qur’an. Only 32 and 29, the sisters were remembered at their funeral as “inspiring and influential” members of […]

On Tuesday evening, Turkey and Russia announced that they had brokered a cease-fire agreement between the Bashar Assad regime and the opposition that would facilitate the evacuation of civilians and opposition from eastern Aleppo. Buses were dispatched to transport Aleppo residents to Idlib. Hours later, Iran single-handedly sabotaged the last-ditch effort by ordering the Iranian-backed […]

With much of the country in ruins, millions of Syrians having fled abroad [Abdulrhman Ismail/Reuters] Five years since the conflict began, more than 450,000 Syrians have been killed in the fighting, more than a million injured and over 12 million Syrians – half the country’s prewar population – have been displaced from their homes. In […]

Mogadishu, 11 December 2016 – Two officials of the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) of Somalia, today returned from Ghana where they had been deployed as part of the African Union (AU) Election Observation Mission, in the just concluded elections. Sayid Ali Sheikh Mohamed, the Deputy Chairman of NIEC and Said Hashi Warsame, a Commissioner, […]