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Reuters

At least five civilians were killed when Islamist fighters set off a bomb then stormed a government building in Somalia’s capital on Sunday, the ministry of information said.
Attackers from the al-Shabab group charged into the block that houses the office of Mogadishu’s mayor around noon and got caught in a firefight with security forces, the ministry and witnesses said.
Security killed six of the militants and cleared the area by about 6pm, the ministry said on its Facebook page.
Al-Shabab has stepped up attacks in a show of resilience since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government launched an offensive against the al-Qaeda-linked group in August.
“We were in the office and we were deafened by a blast. We ran out. Gunfire followed,” Farah Abdullahi, who works in the mayor’s office, told Reuters.
Sixteen people were injured in the attack, Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Aamin Ambulance Services, said.
The mayor’s office is in the local government headquarters building in a well-guarded area of Mogadishu.
Roads in the area have concrete barriers and multiple roadblocks. The building is about 1.5km (1 mile) away from Villa Somalia, the president’s office.

Al-Shabab said in a statement its suicide bombers struck, “then foot fighters entered the building after killing the building guards”.
Al-Shabab, which has been fighting the government since 2006 and seeking to impose its own interpretation of Islamic law, frequently carries out bombings and gun attacks across the country.
In a sign the government was expanding its offensive against the group into the country’s south, state television for Jubbaland, one of the country’s semi-autonomous states, reported on Sunday that regional and Somalia federal forces had launched attacks on al-Shabab and taken control of Janay Abdale town from the militants.


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At least 5 killed in blast, attack near mayor’s office in Somalia’s capital

Somali security forces and civilians walk to view the bodies of suspected al-Shabab fighters killed in a clash with security members at the mayor’s office in Mogadishu, Somalia on Sunday. Photo: Reuters . 

Somali security forces stand outside the mayor’s office following a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

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The scene in Mogadishu, Somalia on Saturday after two car bombs exploded at a busy junction near key government offices. Photo: EPA-EFE

 Rescuers and security forces stand by a body at the scene of a double car-bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia on Saturday. Photo: AP 

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Photo: EPA-EFE

A Somali soldier walks through the scene of a double car-bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia on Saturday. Photo: AP

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News

World

Islamist militants set off bomb, stormed a government office in Somalia’s capital
Al-Shabab, a militant group allied with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack


Attackers from the al-Shabab Islamist group set off a bomb then stormed the government building in Somalia’s capital and got caught in a firefight with security forces, the ministry and witnesses said.


At least 5 killed in blast, attack near mayor’s office in Somalia’s capital

Islamist militants set off bomb, stormed a government office in Somalia’s capital Al-Shabab, a militant group allied with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack

Islamist militants set off bomb, stormed a government office in Somalia’s capital

Al-Shabab, a militant group allied with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack