MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Shabab rebels carried out a car bomb and gun attack against an intelligence headquarters in central Mogadishu yesterday, leaving at least seven militants and five others dead.
The Al Qaeda-linked militia claimed responsibility for the raid against the complex, which also houses a major detention facility, saying it was being used for the “torture and humiliation” of “innocent Muslims”.
The coordinated attack came a day after Somalia’s national army and African Union forces said they had captured a Shabab stronghold as part of a joint offensive aimed at seizing key ports and cutting off an important source of revenue for the Islamist rebels.
In yesterday’s attack, police and witnesses said a car bomb was detonated outside the National Intelligence Centre and was followed by a raid by gunmen disguised in national army uniforms — a method of attack already used several times this year by the Shabab.
“There were seven attackers. One of them blew himself up in the car while the six others were killed by the security forces,” interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf told reporters.
“The attack is over now and the attackers have failed to achieve their goal aimed at interrupting the Indian Ocean operation,” he said, referring to the current AU and government offensive.
Information Minister Mustafa Duhulow said three members of the security forces and two civilians were also killed, but that the attack was halted within 45 minutes. The Shabab’s military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, confirmed the militants carried out the attack and claimed the militants had killed 15 government soldiers.
AFP
