MOGADISHU: Five inmates were killed in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday after gunfire broke out between security forces and some prisoners who had acquired weapons and were trying to escape, state media and residents said.
The firefight between the security forces and inmates broke out in the capital’s main prison, located in the city’s south near the port.
“Somalia’s prison forces concluded an operation in which prisoners fought inside the cell. Prisoners who tried to fight were shot dead,” Somalia National TV said in a post on their Facebook account.
The five inmates who died were members of the Islamist group Al-Shabab who had been sentenced to death, it added.
It did not say whether any prisoners had escaped during the firefight.
Two security personnel at the prison, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told Reuters grenades and guns had been smuggled into the cell and the inmates had used them to start the firefight.
“We heard gunfire and...explosion inside the cell. The gunfire stopped after like 15 minutes. Government forces cordoned (off) the whole area,” said Abdullahi Aden, a local resident who lives near the prison.
A police spokesperson could not be reached for a comment.
Al Shabab has been fighting Somalia’s central government for nearly two decades and wants to establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Five inmates killed in attempted breakout from Somalian prison
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Five inmates killed in attempted breakout from Somalian prison
- The firefight between the security forces and inmates broke out in the capital’s main prison
- The five inmates who died were members of the Islamist group Al-Shabab who had been sentenced to death
Syria says 120 Daesh detainees escaped prison; Kurdish website said 1,500 escaped
- The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout
CAIRO: Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that about 120 Daesh detainees escaped from Shaddadi prison, after the Kurdish website Rudaw reported that a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Farhad Shami, said around 1,500 Daesh members had escaped.
The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout. It said security forces had recaptured 81 of the escapees after search and sweep operations in the town and surrounding areas, with efforts continuing to arrest the remaining fugitives.
Earlier, the Syrian army said “a number of” Daesh militants had escaped a prison that had been under SDF control in the eastern city of Shaddadi, accusing the SDF of releasing them.
After days of fighting with government forces, the SDF agreed on Sunday to withdraw from both Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, two Arab-majority provinces they had controlled for years and the location of Syria’s main oil fields.
