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(GNN) - MOGADISHU: Shebab rebels carried out a major bomb and armed attack on Somalia´s presidential palace late Tuesday, penetrating the heavily fortified complex in the capital Mogadishu before blowing themselves up.
Somalia´s internationally backed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed were not inside at the time and were "both safe", officials said, just five months after a similar attack by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab.
Security sources said the two men were with guards from the African Union´s 22,000-strong AMISOM force and authorities gave no immediate details of casualties from the latest attack.
"There were at least nine attackers, all have been killed, and the situation is under control, the attack is over," security official Abdi Ahmed said.
"There were eight blasts towards the end of the fighting, believed to have been suicide vests. They detonated themselves."
A Shebab spokesman confirmed that the group was behind the attack, and claimed their commandos had managed to seize the president´s office inside the presidential compound known as the Villa Somalia.
"Our commandos are inside the so-called presidential office," Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP. "We are in control of the headquarters of the apostate regime." The enemy suffered high casualties during the operation, which is ongoing. The assault is a victory for us since the foreign installed government said that security was beefed up."
The attackers launched a two-pronged attack on the presidential complex, police said, setting off a large bomb at the rear of the compound and then storming in via another entrance.
The attack came shortly after the start of Iftar, when Muslims end the day´s Ramadan fast.
It was not immediately possible to confirm reports that the embassy of Djibouti, which has troops in Somalia and whose mission is close to the presidential palace, had also come under direct attack. (GNN)(AFP)(AIP)
Security sources said the two men were with guards from the African Union´s 22,000-strong AMISOM force and authorities gave no immediate details of casualties from the latest attack.
"There were at least nine attackers, all have been killed, and the situation is under control, the attack is over," security official Abdi Ahmed said.
"There were eight blasts towards the end of the fighting, believed to have been suicide vests. They detonated themselves."
A Shebab spokesman confirmed that the group was behind the attack, and claimed their commandos had managed to seize the president´s office inside the presidential compound known as the Villa Somalia.
"Our commandos are inside the so-called presidential office," Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP. "We are in control of the headquarters of the apostate regime." The enemy suffered high casualties during the operation, which is ongoing. The assault is a victory for us since the foreign installed government said that security was beefed up."
The attackers launched a two-pronged attack on the presidential complex, police said, setting off a large bomb at the rear of the compound and then storming in via another entrance.
The attack came shortly after the start of Iftar, when Muslims end the day´s Ramadan fast.
It was not immediately possible to confirm reports that the embassy of Djibouti, which has troops in Somalia and whose mission is close to the presidential palace, had also come under direct attack. (GNN)(AFP)(AIP)
