Somalia: Troops Recapture Stormed Presidential Palace

By Staff Writer

Somali troops retook the presidential palace in the capital of Mogadishu after militants forced their way in and exchanged heavy gunfire with troops and guards on Tuesday July 8, the latest attack underscoring the threat posed by Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab in East Africa.

The Islamist group attacked the presidential palace in the Somali capital, and entered the heavily fortified compound. 

Smoke billowed from inside the compound with loud explosions and gunfire rent the air as troops tried to repel the intruders. 

After more than two hours of fighting, Somalia's presidency said in a Twitter update that "the shameful attack" had been foiled by Somalia's armed forces fighting alongside African Union peacekeepers.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab said fighting was ongoing, but a government official told the press the attack was over and the militants had all been killed

"We have entered the so-called presidential palace. We have now captured some parts of the palace and fighting is still going on," said Musab.

He said that 14 government soldiers had been killed in the attack.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was not inside the palace at the time of the attack, but the prime minister and the speaker of parliament were, said Captain Mohamed Hussein, a senior police official.

President Mohamud was attending a function at the residence of the UN special envoy to Somalia, near the airport when the attack occurred.

The presidential palace is the seat of government and many top government officials live and work there and has been the subject of many attacks by Al-Shabaab over the years.

 It is also considered one of the safest places in Mogadishu because of the tight security presence.

The presidency said that the compound has since been secured, and all the attackers had been killed.

“I counted at least nine bodies.” Hussein said.

However a government official, who asked not to be named, said the situation was now under control and that attackers had all been killed.

Some of the militants involved in the attack were dressed as government troops, confusing guards who let them in, said Yusuf Nor, a Somali military official at the scene of the attack. Amid the confusion, he said, some soldiers fired at their comrades.

The attack was the second assault on the presidential palace this year, and it marked the first time militants have been able to breach the compound and take offensive positions inside.

The palace is protected by government troops and African Union peacekeepers that helped to drive the Al-Shabaab militants out of their bases in Mogadishu in 2011.

“The attack started when a car bomb exploded outside the presidential compound. Gunmen then entered the palace,” police officer Mohamed Abdi said.

Police said the militants, who were armed with grenades, split up into groups once inside and tried to take control of different buildings in the compound.

Al-Shabaab, has vowed to step up attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The militia group has previously carried out deadly attacks against lawmakers, U.N. staff and government officials. Last year the group attacked an upscale West Gate mall in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya, which has sent troops to fight the militants under the African Union banner.

On Saturday July 5, a suicide car bomb exploded near the capital's parliament building, killing at least four people.

Somali Defence Minister Mohamed Sheikh Mohamud told a local radio station in the aftermath of the latest attack that the Horn of Africa nation faces a "complicated" fight against Al-Shabaab, and urged the public to cooperate with the authorities to defeat the insurgents.

Somalia has been trying to rebuild following years of political instability and civil strife since 1991, after the ouster of then dictator Siad Barre from power.

Mohamud's Western-backed government has promised to put the country on a path toward democracy and economic progress, despite regular attacks by Islamic militants.