Maldives leader fires defence minister amid explosion probe

MALE (Reuters) - The president of the Maldives Abdulla Yameen fired his defence minister with immediate effect, the president's spokesman said on Wednesday, the latest move in a defence shake-up following an explosion targeting the leader. Last week the president's office, citing the findings of international investigators from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Sri Lanka, said the Sept. 28 explosion was an assassination attempt on President Yameen. Two military officials were arrested. "President Yameen has removed Moosa Ali Jaleel from his position as the defence minister," Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Muaz Ali told Reuters. "I am unable to reveal further details regarding this matter at this time." Since the attack on president's speedboat, Maldives authorities have set up a separate security unit for Yameen, while some top defence officials including the intelligence chief have been replaced amid tight security in the capital Male. Local investigations into the explosion on the Maldives National Defence Force launch are still continuing. Jaleel was appointed defence minister in January following the dismissal of his predecessor, Colonel Mohamed Nazim, who is now serving an 11-year jail term for weapons smuggling and planning an attack on the president. Yameen, 59, was unhurt in the blast as the presidential launch approached the capital Male, but his wife and two aides were injured. Initially the government said it could be due to mechanical failure. A broader crackdown against political dissent belies the popular image of the Maldives, an island chain with a population of 400,000, as a holiday paradise. Radicalised youths are enlisting in significant numbers to fight for Islamic State militants in the Middle East. (Reporting by Daniel Bosley in MALE; Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal in COLOMBO; Editing by Toby Chopra)