Somalia’s al-Shabab attacks military base in Mogadishu
Large blast and gunfire hit training compound near Somali HQ of National Intelligence and Security, witnesses say.
Somali armed group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military compound in Mogadishu where Somali intelligence officials train, claiming it killed “many intelligence forces”.
“We captured the building and we are fighting inside it,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters news agency on Sunday.
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Somali government sources told Al Jazeera that they regained control of the compound after foiling an attempt by the armed group to break into it.
They said a car bomb was destroyed before it reached the compound and four al-Shabab fighters had been killed. There were no victims among security forces, the government sources said.
A witness said a loud blast followed by gunfire was heard early on Sunday in the centre of the capital near the headquarters of the National Intelligence and Security Agency.
#BREAKING: Car laden with explosives hit #NISA HQs in #Mogadishu. Heavy gunfire could be heard. Dozens of gov't guards feared dead-Office.
— Live From Somalia (@Tuuryare_Africa) June 21, 2015
On Saturday, al-Shabab fighters killed at least eight officers in a raid on a police station near the capital, police and the militants said.
“Al-Shabab killed eight of my colleagues and took three of our cars,” Major Abdikadir Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters from Afgoi.
Al-Shabab, which wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu, claimed responsibility for the raid on Afgoi town, 30km southwest of Mogadishu.