By Ebi Kesiena
A huge explosion tore through buildings near the mayor’s office in central Mogadishu on Sunday, killing at least five civilians, with gunfire erupting afterwards.
According to Police officer Abdullahi Mohamed the terrorists blasted a vehicle loaded with explosives onto a perimeter wall of the Mogadishu mall which is next to the Banadir administration headquarters.
In another account, the ministry and other witnesses said the attackers from the al Shabaab group charged into the block that houses the office of Mogadishu’s mayor around noon and got caught in a firefight with security forces. The huge explosion damaged nearby buildings and gunfire could still be heard near the mayor’s office.
The ministry said on its Facebook page that the Security officers also succeeded in killing six of the militants and cleared the area.
Omar Nur, said he was inside the mall when the explosion went off and “was lucky to have escaped safely.”
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The mayor’s office is in the local government headquarters building in a well-guarded area of Mogadishu.
Militants have been waging a bloody insurgency against the frail internationally-backed central government for 15 years, carrying out attacks both in Somalia and neighbouring countries.
In recent months, the army and local clan militias have retaken swathes of territory in the centre of the country in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union force.
But the insurgents have frequently retaliated with bloody attacks, underlining their ability to strike at the heart of Somali towns and military installations.
