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Al-Shabaab detonates car bomb outside Somalian intelligence compound Al-Shabaab detonates car bomb outside Somalian intelligence compound
(35 minutes later)
Fighters from Somalia’s al-Shabaab group detonated a car bomb and fought their way into a compound where national intelligence agency officials train, police and the militants said on Sunday, as gunfire raged inside. Four Islamist gunmen were killed after detonating a car bomb and shooting their way into a national intelligence agency training site, the internal security ministry said, adding that the government did not suffer any casualties during the attack.
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, said the fighters captured the building and “killed many” intelligence agents inside. The government responded that only four of the attackers themselves were killed, with no other casualties. A spokesman for al-Shabaab, which wants to topple a Western-backed government in Mogadishu, said the group’s fighters had killed more than 10 intelligence officials.
“First they hit a car bomb against the gate of the house and then fighters went in the building,” said Major Nur Hussein, a police officer. In the past, al-Shabaab has exaggerated the number of government members it has killed, while officials have played down losses.
Hussein said the compound, close to the headquarters of Somalia’s national intelligence agency, was also “used by the national security forces for training and lodging”. The interior ministry displayed the insurgents’ bullet-ridden bodies to the media following the assault, which started just after dawn and lasted for about one hour.
Al-Shabaab wants to topple a western-backed government in Mogadishu and has in the past stepped up attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Wednesday. “We foiled the attack. As you can see, these are the dead bodies of the four al-Shabaab men who attacked this building,” Mohamed Yusuf, internal security ministry spokesman, told reporters at the scene.
The group on Saturday attacked a police post near the capital, reportedly killing eight officers. “Two were in the car bomb while the other two were infantry. There were no other casualties,” he added.
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters the militants lost three fighters.
“They martyred themselves in the operation. We killed over 10 intelligence (officials), mostly officers,” he said.
The al Qaida-aligned group has in the past stepped up attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Wednesday. Al-Shabaab fighters on Saturday attacked a police post near the capital, killing eight officers.
The latest assault highlights al Shabaab’s ability to launch attacks even though it has lost territory and urban strongholds since a major military offensive against them began last year.