MOGADISHU: Somali government forces successfully ended a six-hour siege by militants at a major prison located near the president’s office in the capital, Mogadishu, killing all seven attackers, the government said Sunday.
The government said no civilian or security officers were killed in the Saturday attack, which was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab militant group that has in the past staged numerous attacks in Somalia.
Saturday’s attack came just hours after the federal government lifted several long-standing roadblocks in Mogadishu. The barriers had been in place for years to safeguard critical government sites, but many residents argued that they obstructed traffic and commerce.
The attack on the Godka Jilicow detention facility holding some of the group’s militants lasted for hours and epitomises a worsening situation for Somalia, a poor and unstable country in the Horn of Africa.
“The security forces succeeded in ending the terrorist attack, shooting all seven gunmen who were involved,” the Somali interior ministry said in a statement.
Local residents said they could hear sporadic gunfire for more than three hours after the assault began.
The government has not indicated how many of its security forces were killed during the incident.
A private ambulance owner, Abdulkadir Adam, said his vehicles had transported almost 25 patients from the scene to various hospitals.
A private hospital director, Abdulkadir Yousuf Abdullahi, said his facility received an unspecified number of patients, provided emergency and life-saving care, and was working on identifying the patients and connecting them to their loved ones.
Somalia’s state media reported that the militants used a vehicle disguised to look like those of the intelligence unit’s security forces.
Mogadishu had been relatively calm in recent months as government forces, backed by local militias and African Union troops, pushed Al-Shabab fighters out of several areas in central and southern Somalia.
But the country has witnessed a resurgence in attacks from the Al-Qaeda affiliated group.
The group has seized control of dozens of towns and villages since the beginning of the year, undoing nearly all governmental progress made during a 2022-2023 military campaign.
Despite the tense situation, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is pushing for the country to hold its first direct elections next year.
The head of state also visited the province of Jubaland on Sunday, where recent clashes, primarily over electoral disagreements, have occurred between the army and regional forces.
