Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Somalian Islamist
militant group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on
Tuesday on a police station north of the capital Mogadishu.
Members of the group, which has links to al-Qaeda, entered the compound after blowing the gates with a car bomb.
"We
attacked the Baldweyne police station and killed many Somali police and
Djiboutians," al Shabaab's military spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab
told Reuters.
"The station is now under our control. We are inside and still carrying out the operation."
The number of casualties was not known.
Last
month, a bomber killed 16 people in a cafe in the same district,
targeting Ethiopian and Djibouti troops who al Shabaab accuses of
invading Somalia.
Somali
and African forces, including soldiers from Ethiopia and Djibouti,
pushed al Shabaab out of Baladweyne more than a year ago.
Al
Shabaab's territory has greatly dwindled over the past two years, but
the group continues to control rural areas and some towns and has
ratcheted up guerrilla-style attacks.
"Armed militants went in (to the police station) and continued killing policemen," legislator Dahir Amin Jesow told Reuters.
Officials and police in the town were not available for comment.
(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by John Stonestreet)