Gunmen stormed a government building in Somalia’s capital after a suicide car bombing on Saturday, killing fifteen people including the country’s deputy labour minister, police said, in the latest attack by Islamic extremist fighters in the Horn of Africa nation.
Somali security forces were exchanging gunfire with at least five attackers and trying to rescue public servants trapped inside the Mogadishu building, which houses the ministries of labour and works, police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said.
Saqar Ibrahim Abdalla, Somalia’s deputy minister of labour and social affairs, was killed in his ground-floor office shortly after gunmen stormed the building, he said.
The death toll is expected to rise as dozens of people were believed to be inside the building at the time of the attack since Saturday is a working day in Somalia.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the ongoing attack, saying that its fighters were inside the building, which is located not far from the headquarters of the Somali intelligence agency.
As the attack unfolded, gunfire could be heard from inside the building.
White smoke billowed from the scene, according to witnesses.
“The building was secured by security forces. The four militants who attacked the building were shot dead. Another militant was a suicide car bomber and so he also died,” Major Ali Abdullahi, a police officer told Reuters. Abdullahi said 10 people, including Assistant Labour Minister Saqar Ibrahim Abdala and police personnel, had died.
Police said earlier that about 20 people had been injured in the assault, which began when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb, allowing other militants to storm the building.
A similar attack targeting a busy area in Mogadishu at the end of February killed at least 24 people.
That attack also began with a pair of car bombs exploding in a popular area of Mogadishu where Somalis were relaxing at restaurants.
The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab frequently carries out suicide bombings targeting public places, hotels and government offices.
Al-Shabab, Africa’s most active Islamic extremist group, has been fighting for years to take power and create an Islamic state in Somalia.
The group continues to mount lethal attacks despite being pushed out of Mogadishu.
It mostly operates from rural areas in the country’s south.
Source: NEWS
