Kenya interior minister, police chief swept from posts after massacre

AFP , Tuesday 2 Dec 2014

Somalia
Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia. The raid in Barawe aimed to capture Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, a senior commander. (Photo:Reuters)

Kenya's interior minister and police chief were removed from their posts on Tuesday, hours after Somalia's Shebab rebels carried out a fresh massacre in the northeast of the country.

President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a televised address to the nation that he had replaced interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku, and accepted police chief David Kimaiyo's request to retire.

"Earlier today I held a meeting with Kimaiyo who has offered to retire and I have accepted the retirement request. I thank him for his service to the nation," Kenyatta said.

"Subsequently, I have also nominated Joseph Nkaissery to take over the security docket as Interior Cabinet Secretary," he added.

Kenya would "intensify" its war on terrorism after the Shebab attacks, the president also said.

The annoucement came hours after Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab Islamists massacred 36 quarry workers in the northeast of the country, the latest in a string of gruesome attacks on Kenyan soil.

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