Islamist rebels dressed in government military
uniforms approached the gate of a high security prison
in Mogadishu on Sunday, set off a car bomb and fired
their way into the building, eyewitness Farah Mohammed
told CNN.
They were Al-Shabaab fighters, and security guards at
the prison "foiled the attack" and killed seven of the
rebels, Somalia's Information Minister H.E. Mustafa
Duhulow said in a statement.
"The attackers exchanged heavy gunfire with prison
guards after detonating a car bomb at the main gate,"
Mohamed said. "A plume of dark smoke could be seen
rising from the attacked complex."
During the assault on the National Intelligence and
Security Agency prison three security guards and two
civilians were also killed, 15 others were injured,
Security Ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf told CNN.
The attackers tried to free their fellow Al-Shaabab
members held at the prison, who were sentenced to
death by a Somali military court tribunal, said police
Officer Abdifarah Ali.
"We were behind today's raid on NISA prison in
Mogadishu,"
Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiaziz
Abu Musab said on pro-militant radio station Al-
Andalus. "Our Mujahideen forces stormed the complex
and then sprayed the prison guards with bullets and
bombs," he said.
The government praised the security forces, saying it
shows that Somalia has improved security.
"These terrorists groups are against the security
improvements we are currently experiencing here in
Mogadishu," Information Minister H.E. Mustafa Duhulow
said in a statement. "We say to them that these foiled
attacks strengthen our forces and prove their bravery to
the people of Somalia," he said.
The NISA prison is underground and is close to the
Somali presidential palace in Mogadishu. Hundreds of
inmates, mostly Al-Shabaab members, are being held
there.
Al-Shabaab is an al Qaeda-linked militant group seeking
to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state,
according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack at
a Kenyan mall last year and is believed to be responsible
for attacks in Somalia that have killed international aid
workers, journalists, civilian leaders and African Union
peacekeepers.
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