All seven attackers who stormed a major prison complex in Mogadishu have been killed following an hours-long gun battle in the largest such assault on the capital in recent months, the Somali government has said.
The al-Shabab group attacked Godka Jilow, an underground prison complex known to hold fighters from the armed group, on Saturday.
The government said the assault began with a car bomb blast, followed by the exchange of heavy gunfire and explosions which rang out across the city, with three members of the security forces killed during efforts to quell the attack.
In a statement, al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, said it launched the attack to free some of its members from the prison.
A Somali security official at the prison told the Reuters news agency they heard a “huge blast at the cell gate and soon an exchange of gunfire started”.
“More forces were deployed to eliminate the fighters,” he added.
The Somali state media said the attackers used vehicles painted to resemble those of the country’s intelligence agency and wore uniforms similar to those of its military. “This enabled them to easily pass through the control checkpoints protecting the capital’s security, as armed forces vehicles are not subject to formal inspection,” the Ministry of Internal Security said in a statement.
Attack hours after roads reopened
The attack took place just hours after the government reopened dozens of roads across the capital for the first time in over a decade, with Prime Minister Hamza Barre citing “visible changes and improvements” in the security situation.
Local TV broadcast footage of checkpoints being dismantled.
The Godka Jilow prison is a fortified site near the presidential palace in one of Mogadishu’s most secure areas, raising doubts about reported improvements in the security situation in the Somali capital.
Somalia’s federal government has been battling al-Shabab since 2007. The group is considered by the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) as the “largest, wealthiest, and most lethal” al-Qaeda-affiliated organisation globally, controlling large swaths of southern and central Somalia.
In recent months, al-Shabab has overturned government gains after it launched a major offensive in the regions surrounding Mogadishu and captured several strategic towns, including Adan Yabaal, a logistical hub for the Somali army, nearly 200km (124 miles) north of the capital.
Amid major losses for the Somali military, the country’s national security adviser, Hassan Sheikh Ali, stepped down in July under unclear circumstances.
Between January and July this year, almost 60,000 people were displaced due to the fighting between government forces and the armed group in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region. A report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies this year said Somalia accounted for a third of all casualties across Africa linked to groups with ideological ties to al-Shabab.
In March, al-Shabab attacked Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy in Mogadishu while he was on his way to the airport in what he said was the fifth attempt on his life by the group.
The government last month said an al-Shabab member responsible for the attack was killed in an operation by the country’s intelligence service, NISA.
The attack on the president’s convoy was followed by a period of relative calm in the capital despite the deteriorating security situation in the surrounding regions.
In an interview with BBC Somali in late September, Mohamud said no Somali had died in the city for months from either al-Shabab gunfire or explosions, owing to strengthened security measures.
Mogadishu, Somalia’s historically embattled capital, is heavily defended with a large troop presence and a network of checkpoints where searches are carried out throughout the city.
Samira Gaid, a security expert working on Somalia, says the attack shows a “disparity” between the government’s assessment of the security situation and the realities on the ground, as al-Shabaab has demonstrated with this assault that it can carry out attacks within proximity to the presidential palace.
“The fact that they’re not ramping up attacks in the capital does not show that they’re weakened but that they’re biding their time and can choose when to strike,” Gaid tells Al Jazeera.
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