MOGADISHU — At least 19 people were killed in the Somali capital on Sunday in bomb attacks carried out by militants linked to al Qaeda and subsequent gun battles with the Al-Shabaab fighters, breaking a fragile return to peace in Mogadishu. A bomb exploded outside law courts in the city as gunmen stormed the compound. Security forces then arrived and battled the fighters inside. Later, a bomb exploded near an African Union and Turkish Red Crescent convoy on the way to the airport. Al-Shabab said it carried out the attacks. “About seven well-armed men in government uniform entered the court today as soon as a car bomb exploded at the gate. We thought they were government soldiers,” said Aden Sabdow, who works at the mayor's office adjacent to the court. “Armed men entered the court and then we heard a blast. Then they started opening fire,” said Hussein Ali, who works at the courts. Somali forces arrived and laid siege to the compound and there was a second blast while the two sides exchanged gunfire. Hours later, the shooting stopped, but government forces said they believed some fighters were still hiding inside. Witnesses at the scene said in addition to the car bombs, three of the gunmen who stormed the court also blew themselves up using explosives strapped on their bodies. “We carried out a superb intense mission in Mogadishu today. We killed 26 people including soldiers and court staff,” said Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage. “We assigned five special mujahideen for the court - four of them entered and killed the people inside. The other mujahid with his car bomb exploded when government soldiers gathered at the gate.” Al-Shabaab routinely inflates the number of people it kills. Security forces managed to rescue the Supreme Court chairman and other officials, some of whom climbed out of buildings using ladders. Later, a car bomb exploded at a building housing Somali intelligence along the road to the airport as Turkish and African Union (AU) vehicles were passing, police and witnesses said. Government forces then opened fire and blocked the road. “The car bomb exploded near the gate of a building housing the Somali security. AU and Turkish cars were also passing there. We are still investigating the target and casualties,” Qadar Ali, a police officer told Reuters. Witnesses said three people were killed in the blast. “I saw three dead people including a man, a woman and a child. The ruined car bomb is in the middle of the road,” Hussein Bile, a witness told Reuters. A Turkish official who spoke on condition of anonymity said one of its Red Crescent vehicles was passing at the time of the explosion. A Somali driver was killed and three Turkish passengers were wounded, the official said. Britain warned on April 5 it believed “terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks in Mogadishu”. — Reuters
