Somalia: Al Shabaab gunmen storm Southwest state palace,10 killed

BAIDOA, Somalia, March 12, 2015 (Garowe Online)- Southwest State President Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan and other high ranking officials escaped unharmed after heavily armed Al Shabaab militants stormed a presidential palace in Baidoa’s Isha neighborhood on Thursday, Garowe Online reports.

Witnesses and officials said, a suicide bomber firstly detonated his explosive laden car, followed by a two-hour long gun battle after five gunmen armed with machine guns tried to force their way into the palace.

Independent sources say, three security guards died while five attackers-all killed in armed confrontation- are lying in front of Southwest state presidential palace.

Ordinary residents in downtown Baidoa were seen running away from stray bullets during the broad day light assault.

Adan and key members in his cabinet were holding a meeting in the heavily fortified compound which remains under the watch of Ethiopian peacekeepers and Somali government forces.

As has been the case, Al Shabaab immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they killed eight Ethiopian soldiers.

The apparently coordinated terror attack is the first rampage to be reported since Adan came to office in late 2014.

Baidoa, located in southwestern Somalia fell to allied forces in February 2012, and hosted transitional federal government in 2006.

Over the last two months, three clerics aligned with the paramilitary group of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamea were killed in planned assassinations-exactly after evening prayers.

GAROWE ONLINE