Sunday October 5, 2025
Residents flee through debris-strewn streets as smoke and dust rise following an explosion near the Godka Jilacow detention center in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Saturday. Witnesses said a suicide vehicle bomb triggered hours of gunfire after militants disguised as soldiers tried to storm the high-security prison.
Mogadishu (HOL) — The Toyota Hilux looked ordinary, the kind used by Somalia’s security convoys weaving through the capital. It rolled past the first checkpoint near the Bondhere district without question. Soldiers waved it on, their attention drawn to a line of commuter buses idling behind. Such convoys are a blur of authority and routine. No one noticed the emblem stencilled slightly off-center or that the plates had been filed smooth.
Minutes later, the same vehicle
detonated at the gate of Godka Jila'ow, one of the city’s most secure detention sites. What followed was a six-hour gun battle echoing through Mogadishu’s diplomatic quarter. Residents in nearby Hamar Weyne heard the rattle of automatic rifles echo through the streets. The
audacious attack left officials confronting an uncomfortable truth: militants did not just storm a prison; they slipped through a system built to stop them.
Interviews with security officials, checkpoint guards, and intelligence officers reveal a layered failure, one born of habit as much as deceit. The attackers mimicked everything that signals trust in Mogadishu’s militarized landscape: paint scheme, insignia, radio codes, and language.
In the hours before the assault, Mogadishu’s roads had begun to breathe again. Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre had announced
the removal of dozens of long-standing roadblocks, calling the move “a visible sign of improved security.” For traders and taxi drivers, the gesture signalled relief; for militants, it created an opening.
Security officials had instructed officers to prioritize traffic flow and minimize delays for official convoys. Investigators now believe the attackers exploited that window, moving through a city briefly relaxed in its vigilance.
CCTV footage reviewed by investigators has revealed a startling detail: the vehicle used in Saturday’s Godka Jilacow assault twice stopped at the gates of Villa Somalia before diverting toward the detention center. Guards stationed at the entrance reportedly challenged the vehicle, averting what officials now believe could have been a devastating strike on the presidential compound. Inside the residence, the president was hosting meetings, having just a day earlier declared that Mogadishu’s security had reached its most stable point in years.
“The attack shows a ‘disparity’ between the government’s assessment of the security situation and the realities on the ground,” Samira Gaid, a Mogadishu-based security expert, told Al Jazeera. “Al-Shabab has demonstrated with this assault that it can carry out attacks within proximity to the presidential palace.”
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the assault within hours, releasing a statement online that said the raid was part of an operation it called “Support for the Oppressed.” The group said its fighters had stormed the facility “to free all the Muslim prisoners the apostates had been holding and torturing there.”
The statement confirmed the use of a suicide car bomb at the prison gate,a tactic the group has employed repeatedly in its urban operations. According to data compiled by the Long War Journal, it was at least the 22nd suicide bombing recorded in Somalia this year.
Godka Jilacow, literally “the hole of Jilacow,” sits a short drive from Villa Somalia. Built during the military era, it houses high-value detainees, including Al-Shabab operatives and foreign suspects. Its reinforced gates and underground cells have long symbolized state control in a city often tested by insurgency.
Officials said the militants began their assault with a suicide car bomb, then
stormed the compound on foot, triggering hours of clashes with guards. Reinforcements arrived within minutes, sealing off nearby roads as gunfire reverberated across the capital. No prisoners escaped, but the scale of the assault raised new questions about complacency inside the capital’s most protected zone.
By nightfall, smoke curled above the government quarter, a dark contrast to the celebratory flags marking the day’s road reopenings.
In an unusually candid statement released Sunday, Somalia’s Ministry of Internal Security confirmed that the attackers had used a car disguised as a government vehicle to bypass checkpoints. Officials said the incident exposed weaknesses in inspection procedures and prompted an immediate review of convoy verification.
“The militants used a vehicle painted in the colours of Somali security forces, enabling them to move freely through parts of the city,” the ministry said. “This attack shows the urgent need to verify and regulate vehicles purporting to be Somali security forces.”
Officials said new directives will require
mandatory inspections for all military-marked vehicles, reversing a long-standing exemption that prioritized checking civilian traffic.
The siege fits a pattern of Al-Shabab’s shifting urban tactics. The group has moved from mass-casualty bombings toward strikes that test government credibility. In past incidents, militants have disguised themselves as medics, police, or soldiers to gain entry to high-value targets.
Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, has waged an insurgency since 2007 and remains entrenched in rural southern and central Somalia. The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) describes it as the “largest, wealthiest, and most lethal” branch of al-Qaeda globally. The group continues to stage operations near the seat of federal power.
For Mogadishu’s residents, the attack cast a shadow over the government’s promise of normalcy. Many welcomed the lifting of roadblocks that had fragmented daily life but now question whether convenience came at the expense of safety.
In tea stalls and taxi ranks, the conversation has shifted from relief to regret. As one shopkeeper near K4 Junction told HOL, “We waited years for the city to open. Now we wonder if open roads made it easier for them to reach us.”