Monitoring Desk
MOGADISHU: At least six people were killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab militants on Sunday at the mayor’s office in central Mogadishu, local police said.
A suicide bomber set off a massive blast that tore through a building near the office complex, with gunfire erupting afterward, Somali police spokesperson Sadik Dudishe stated at the end of the siege.
“All six attackers died. Five of them during the exchange of fire with the security forces, and one detonated himself,” Dudishe told media.
“Six civilians also died during the militants’ attack, and the situation is back to normal.”
All the employees at the mayor’s office were rescued, the police said.
Al-Shabaab, a militant group linked with Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the mayor’s office attack, saying its fighters “entered the targeted building after killing the security guards.”
Witnesses said the first explosion damaged nearby buildings, followed by gunfire in the vicinity of the mayor’s office.
Security forces cordoned off the area in Mogadishu
Security officers quickly cordoned off the area, said a witness who runs his own business near the government offices.
Another eyewitness, Omar Nur, said he was inside a nearby shopping mall when the blast took place and “was lucky to have escaped safely.”
The Al-Shabaab group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the frail globally backed central government for 15 years, carrying out attacks in Somalia and neighbouring countries.
The latest assault comes days after seven personnel were killed on January 20 at a military camp in the Galcad town situated in central Somalia around 375 kilometres north of Mogadishu.
