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Somali presidential palace attacked Somali presidential palace attacked by al-Shabaab militants
(about 4 hours later)
Militants wearing suicide vests and carrying guns and grenades have attacked Somalia's presidential palacein Mogadishu. The president was reported to be unharmed, though others were killed. Nine al-Shabaab militants wearing military fatigues and carrying guns and grenades died after attacking Somalia's presidential palace with two car bombs in an assault the president called a "media spectacular" by a "dying animal".
Police captain Mohamed Hussein said the militants launched the attack with a car bomb, and then tried to fight their way into the presidential palace as guards returned fire. A second police officer, Ali Hassan, said a second blast was heard during the attack. The president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was unharmed but two government officials were killed, the interior ministry said.
The heavily guarded presidential palace is the residence of the president, prime minister and speaker of parliament. The attack underscores a worrying new trend in Mogadishu: that despite a period of relative calm following al-Shabaab's withdrawal from Mogadishu in August 2011, militants have carried out a series of deadly assaults in recent weeks that have seen the city hit with mortar fire and pitched battles.
"President just called me to say he's unharmed. Attack on Villa #Somalia had failed. Sadly some lives lost. I condemn strongly this terrorism," the UN's representative in Somalia, Nick Kay, said on Twitter. Weapons meant for the Somali army could have been used by the militants in Friday's attack. A confidential report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea said this month that the country's military is selling weaponry in markets where the al-Qaida-linked militants buy weapons.
The al-Qaida-linked group al-Shabaab has been fighting in Somalia for years, trying to oust a western-backed government whose military is supported by African Union forces. Al-Shabaab was ousted from Mogadishu in 2011, but militants still attack the seat of government as well as sites popular with foreigners. In at least one case weapons were sold by a military commander directly to an al-Shabaab commander, the report said.
In Friday's attack, a speeding car full of explosives rammed into a barricade protecting the presidential palace, causing an explosion and sending plumes of smoke into the sky. Gunmen chanting "God is great" then moved toward a second gate and tried to force their way into the complex. Terrified civilians ran for cover as bullets flew past and soldiers shot into the air. Friday's attack against the compound where the president and prime minister live began with a car bomb explosion, followed by an assault by gunmen on palace guards, said a police captain, Mohamed Hussein. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.
As the gunfire intensified, a second blast was heard inside the presidential palace, suggesting some militants had entered. "President just called me to say he's unharmed. Attack on Villa #Somalia had failed. Sadly some lives lost. I condemn strongly this terrorism," the UN representative to Somalia, Nick Kay, said on Twitter. He added later: "The Somali people are tired of shootings, bombings and killings. It's time for a new chapter in Somalia's history."
Abdikarim Hussein, Somalia's security minister, said all the militants had been killed or arrested and that calm had returned. It was not clear how many attackers were involved. The interior ministry displayed seven of the attackers' bloodied bodies and said two others had blown themselves up. The wreckage of two car bombs lay nearby.
The Somali government is trying to restore law and order in one of the world's most dangerous cities. Militants often use suicide car bombs to penetrate the fortified targets, making it hard for soldiers to react quickly amid the ensuing chaos. The two government officials killed were a former intelligence commander and an aide to the prime minister, a Somali-American named Mohamud Hersi Abdulle, said Hussein.
"Apart from media headlines, #Shabaab will achieve nothing from it," a Twitter account run by the office of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said. "Don't be fooled by this "media spectacular'. This is another act of desperation from a dying animal."
Al-Shabaab has been waging war in Somalia for years as it tries to oust a Western-backed government. Weakened from its apex of power, the militant group is still able to launch vicious attacks.
The UN Monitoring Group report, published on 6 February and obtained by the Associated Press, found that many weapons given to Somalia's military can no longer be accounted for, including rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and bullets. The monitoring group "has developed serious concerns that the 1,000 AK-47s delivered from Uganda" are no longer in government control, it said.
The report said that two separate clan-based power bases in the government are procuring weapons with an agenda that works against peace in Somalia, including by distributing weapons to clan militias. A sub-clan of the president's dominates weapons procurements and funnels them to militia forces of the Abgaal clan, it said.
"In addition, the monitoring group has also obtained documentary evidence corroborating information that a key adviser to the president, from his Abgaal subclan, has been involved in planning weapons deliveries to al-Shabaab leader Sheikh Yusuf Isse 'Kabukatukade', who is also Abgaal," the report said.
The report also said that ammunition supplied to Somalia's army has been leaked in large quantities to arms markets. Weapons and ammunition not sold at a market during the day are taken back for storage in garages and houses owned by Somali army officers, the report said.
"Al-Shabaab are known to frequent the market to purchase weapons and ammunition and were easily identifiable by the salesmen there," the report said.
Somalia's government has not responded publicly to the report and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Ken Menkhaus, a Somalia expert at Davidson College in the US, wrote in a new paper on al-Shabaab, that the militant group has been weakened as a political movement and will not be able to establish an Islamic state, but that its secret service, Amniyat, can still unleash devastating attacks against African Union forces and the Somali government.