MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somali government forces successfully ended a six-hour siege by militants at a major prison located near the president’s office in the capital, Mogadishu, killing all seven attackers, the government said Sunday.
The government said no civilian or security officers were killed in the Saturday attack, which was claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group that has in the past staged numerous attacks in Somalia.
Saturday’s attack came just hours after the federal government lifted several long-standing roadblocks in Mogadishu. The barriers had been in place for years to safeguard critical government sites, but many residents argued that they obstructed traffic and commerce.
Mogadishu had been relatively calm in recent months as government forces, backed by local militias and African Union troops, pushed al-Shabab fighters out of several areas in central and southern Somalia.
The government said that no prisoners escaped from the Godka Jilacow prison during the attack.
A private ambulance owner, Abdulkadir Adam, said his vehicles had transported almost 25 patients from the scene to various hospitals.
A private hospital director, Abdulkadir Yousuf Abdullahi, said his facility received an unspecified number of patients, provided emergency and life-saving care, and was working on identifying the patients and connecting them to their loved ones.
Somalia’s state media reported that the militants used a vehicle disguised to look like those of the intelligence unit’s security forces.