Somalia’s al-Shabaab attacks military base in Mogadishu

SOMALIAN armed group, al-Shabaab, has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military compound in Mogadishu where Somalia intelligence officials train, claiming it killed “many intelligence forces”.

“We captured the building and we are fighting inside it,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters news agency yesterday.

Somalia 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-Shabaab 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 yesterday in the centre of the capital near the headquarters of the National Intelligence and Security Agency.