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Al Shabab raid in Somalia's Mogadishu causes civilian casualties

Terror group storms house in northern district of Abdiaziz, leaving 10 civilians dead and three wounded, Somali government says.

Reuters

Somali security forces secure the scene of a terror attack at a building in Abdiaziz district of Mogadishu.

Al Shabab terror group members have attacked a house in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, killing 10 civilians, the government said.

The raid took place around 1200 GMT in the northern district of Abdiaziz, the government said on Tuesday, adding that three civilians had been wounded.

"The security forces rescued and extracted many other civilians from that house and other nearby buildings during the attack," it said.

The attack was claimed by Al Shabab, which is linked to Al Qaeda.

A soldier named Mohamed Ali, who was present at the scene, said the attackers "stormed the building after blasting the main gate with explosives".

He said they "resorted to attacking the houses occupied by civilians after they are being defeated in the front lines".

Fighting since 2007

In recent months, the Somali army and local clan militias have retaken chunks of territory from the terror group in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union force known as ATMIS.

But Al Shabab, which has been fighting the government since 2007, still control parts of the countryside from where it has carried out numerous retaliatory attacks both in Somalia and in neighbouring countries.

Al Shabab, forced out of the capital by African Union troops in 2011, has frequently retaliated against the latest offensive with bloody strikes.

In the deadliest Al Shabab attack since the offensive was launched last year, 121 people were killed in two car bomb explosions at the Education Ministry in Mogadishu in October.