Five Killed As Gunfire, Explosions Rock Somali Capital

Al Shabaab militants attacked several police stations and security checkpoints in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu early on Wednesday, as the nation prepares for a much-delayed presidential election.

State TV reported that five people, two of them children, were killed in two attacks, one a the police station in the Kahda district and another in the Darasalam district.

The al Qaeda-linked militants carry out frequent attacks against the government and last week attacked a minibus carrying election delegates.

The group’s spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said fighters hit government targets in four districts in the capital and another area on the outskirts, adding that the militants overran government bases and seized military vehicles and weapons.

It was not immediately possible to verify those claims.

Taking to Twitter, Internal security minister Abdullahi Nor said the terrorists attacked the suburbs of Mogadishu and targeted our police stations and checkpoints, adding that their security defeated the enemy.”

Casualties from the attacks, which occurred just before 1 a.m. (2200 GMT), were unclear but a witness who visited the scene of an attack on the Kahda police station said the building was destroyed, along with nearby houses.

Al Shabaab have also recently made incursions outside the capital, including capturing a town in December in the semi-autonomous central state of Galmudug.

Analysts say the development underscored how the group was exploiting divisions between the central government and its erstwhile allies in other regions.