A shooting is underway near the secure perimeter of the airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu. At the same time, radical Shebab Islamists claimed to be carrying out an attack in an area housing embassies.
Clashes at the airport
“There are gunshots in the vicinity of the airport and we are learning that it is an ongoing attack involving armed men (…) Security forces are responding now,” said said Mohamed Ali, a member of airport security. “There are armed clashes inside the airport and we were told about two armed men from Al-Shabaab involved in the attack”, also declared Ahmed Dahir, employee in a hotel located in the secure area of the airport. ‘airport.
National television announced on Twitter that “security forces are engaged in a terrorist incident at one of the main entrances to the Halane complex in Mogadishu”, where the UN representation and the military force are located. African Union in Somalia (Amisom).
A statement from Al-Qaeda
A pro-Shabab site claimed that the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group said in a statement that “its fighters carried out a raid on the Halane camp”. This area was the target of mortar fire in 2019. In addition to an air terminal, the secure area of Mogadishu airport is home to many embassies, as well as international institutions and agencies.
Al-Shabaab, who fight the fragile central government, were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 after an Amisom offensive, but they still control large areas of rural Somalia and continue to carry out attacks on government and military targets.