Somali police station bombed, more attacks expected

Islamic militants on Sunday bombed and attacked a heavily guarded police base in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, killing at least 10 people, police confirmed. The bombing marks the second major attack in a week claimed by extremist group al-Shabaab.

Five civilians and four extremists died in the Sunday attack, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein. Hussein Ali, a police officer, told Reuters one soldier also died and another 15 people were injured.

The attackers rammed two explosive-filled cars into the gates of Somalia’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters. Two gunmen entered the building afterward and began shooting. The gunfire could be heard for about half an hour after the blast, witnesses said.

“I saw a vehicle driving into the gates of the Criminal Investigation Department at a high speed and then a huge blast went off,” witness Mohamed Abdi told the German DPA news agency.

Security forces ended the assault after killing the gunmen, said Ali Hassan, a police officer at the CID.

Somalia has increasingly faced attacks from al-Shabaab in recent months. The country’s first parliamentary election since 1967 is scheduled for this month, and analysts have warned terror attacks could increase during this period.

On Tuesday, al-Shabaab fighters killed at least 13 people in an attack on an African Union peacekeeping base. Al-Shabaab’s Andalus radio reported a 57-year-old former legislator, Salah Badbado, carried out one of the car bombings in the Tuesday attack.

“In a city where politics have generally been militarized, it’s very likely that the attacks will increase,” said Ebrahim Deen, a researcher with the South Africa based Afro-Middle East Center.

Some 22,000 African Union peacekeepers are currently stationed across Somalia. In 2011, the forces successfully drove al-Shabaab out of the capital and some major Somali towns, but the extremist group continues to stage sporadic attacks in the capital and other parts of the country.