Al Shabaab stormed Somalia’s parliament on Saturday, killing at least four people in a bomb and gun assault that the United Nations called “an attack against the people”.
The attack – by the group that killed 67 people at a Kenyan shopping mall last year – started with a car bomb at a gate to the heavily fortified parliament compound, followed by a suicide bombing and then a gun battle which continued for hours.
A police officer confirmed four of his colleagues were killed and local media said the total death might number dozens.
We are behind the suicide bombing, explosions and the fighting inside the so-called Somali parliament house, and still heavy fighting is going on inside,” said al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab.
The attack on parliament, a building about 300 meters (yards) from the president’s palace that is guarded by African Union peacekeepers and Somali forces, showed that the al Qaeda-linked group remains capable of hitting the center of Mogadishu despite being pushed out of the capital two years ago.
“The terrorists have once again shown that they are against all Somalis, by killing our innocent brothers and sisters. These cowardly, despicable actions are not a demonstration of the true Islamic faith,” said Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed.
