[9] In 1960, his son, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who would later become Prime Minister of the Somali Transitional Federal Government, was born.

On 1 July 1960, with the creation of the Somali Republic, the then-incumbent President Aden Abdullah Osman Daar appointed Sharmarke Prime Minister of Somalia.

Sharmarke's duties as Prime Minister saw him travel abroad extensively in pursuit of a non-aligned and neutral foreign policy.

[3][10] On duty outside the guest house where the president was staying, the officer fired an automatic rifle in close range at Sharmarke, killing him instantly.

[3] Sharmarke's assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on 21 October 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition; essentially a bloodless takeover.