Al-Shabaab militants launched a major suicide attack on Sunday against a military intelligence base in the capital Mogadishu, setting off a car bomb before storming inside, security officials said.
Somalia’s interior ministry said the three attackers were all killed in the raid, and that Somali security forces who fought them suffered no casualties.
“There was an attack against a base belonging to the security forces. The violent elements used a car bomb to get inside the compound. There was a heavy exchange of gunfire,” said Adan Mohamed, a Somali security official.
Witnesses near the base, belonging to the internationally-backed government’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), reported a loud explosion followed by intense gunfire.