A blast has been heard near the mayor’s office in #Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, according to a witness who added the explosion was then followed by gunfire.https://t.co/yJBTHuZxd4
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) January 22, 2023
At least five people were maimed in a blast on Sunday at the gates of the mayor’s office in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu as gunfire continued to sound, a member of the ambulance service and a witness said.
Somalia’s murderous Moslem group al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban...Arabic for
students...
, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
grabbed credit for the attack.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Aamin Ambulance Services, told Rooters that ambulance staff had so far evacuated five injured people from the scene of the blast.
Gunfire was still ongoing in the area and it was difficult for ambulances to access the area, he said.
"We were in the office and we were deafened by a blast, we ran out, gunfire followed," Farah Abdullahi, who works in the mayor’s office, told Rooters.
The mayor’s office is located in the local government headquarters building in a well-guarded area of Mogadishu.
Roads in the area have concrete barriers and multiple roadblocks. The building is about one and a half kilometers away from Villa Somalia, the president’s office.
Security forces immediately put the area under lockdown but an exchange of gunfire between the army and the assailants was ongoing, an intelligence officer who only gave his name as Ahmed, told Rooters.
"Our Mujahideen have stormed the well-guarded apostate local government headquarter of Mogadishu, we first started with suicide bombs and then foot fighters entered the building after killing the building guards," Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operations front man, said in the statement.
Al-Shabaab frequently carries out bombings and gun assaults on targets in Mogadishu and across the country.
| Courtesy of badanov, Regnum adds: |
Somali troops overpower militants to end siege in Mogadishu
[ShabelleNews] – Somali security forces take back the control of Mogadishu mayor’s office in the capital on Sunday after ending a siege by al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
hard boys.
The ministry of information announced the operation was successfully concluded after the security forces killed the six attackers who holed up in the facility for at least six hours.
The statement added that five civilians bit the dust and four others were maimed in the attack by al-Shabaab which becomes the second of its kind in two months.
The police’s special Haram’ad brigade carried out the operation, and also rescued dozens of people from the building which houses the administration of the Benadir region.
The al-Qaeda-linked group is trying to disrupt ongoing military operations in Somalia by staging boom-mobile and gun attacks in Mogadishu, where the government is based.
Mogadishu mayor Yusuf Madale was out of his office at the time of the attack which began with explosions and followed by gunfire after button men made their way into the ground.