Somalia: scores killed in al-Shabab bomb attack on Mogadishu mayor’s office

Somali government forces have ended an al-Shabab siege of the Mogadishu mayor’s office and other local government facilities after the al-Qaida-linked extremists stormed the compound in the capital city Sunday January 22.

Somalia’s Ministry of Information said, in a statement, security forces shot dead six al-Shabab fighters behind Sunday’s attack on the Banadir Regional Administration headquarters in Mogadishu. Five civilians were killed and four others were injured, the statement added. The Somali government said the al-Shabab attackers arrived at the compound on foot, masquerading as government soldiers. A staff member at the headquarters said the attack began with a suicide bombing before gunmen entered and exchanged fire with security guards.

The mayor’s office was targeted by an earlier al-Shabab attack, on July 24, 2019, when a female suicide bomber fatally wounded then-mayor. The federal government last year declared “total war” on the extremist group and has retaken a number of communities the fighters had controlled in central and southern Somalia. The day before, al-Shabab stormed a Somali government military base in the newly captured town of Galcad in Galmudug state, claiming to have killed 159 soldiers. Meanwhile, a US military strike has killed approximately 30 Islamist al-Shabab militants near Galcad, where Somalia’s military was engaged in heavy fighting, US Africa Command said in a statement.