In a rare nocturnal operation on ultra-sensitive areas in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, the Al Qaeda-affiliated, Islamist group, Al Shabaab, rained a number of on-target mortar shells at Adan Adde International Airport and the adjacent AMISOM base camp.
The attack was staged at dusk on Sunday.
According to a statement the group released, Sunday evening, the airport was hit by 9 mortar shells.
“Seven of the mortar shells landed on target inside the airport while two of them hit the front gate,” the statement on a radio that follows them said.
The heavily fortified airport and Halane base camp are guarded round the clock by the AU Peacekeeper troops – AMISOM.
The airport has been closed to commercial traffic since the outbreak of the coronavirus and has been only open to humanitarian and medical cargo planes since then.
Halane, lying within the same area with the airport, houses all international and regional offices including UN departments, EU, AU and all foreign embassies and representative offices.
It was to go on two-week lockdown midnight the same evening the raid happened.
The statement said nothing about casualties.
Independent sources, though, report that at least two civilians were injured in the attack. Not more than 4 explosions were heard, the sources state, adding that about not more than five shells hit the two compounds altogether a- at most/
The weak, UN-propped federal government has not released any official statement yet.
Since 2010 when the first contingent units of AMISOM arrive in the beleaguered city, Al Shabaab had gone on tactical retreat which did never deterred it, since then, to stage surprise attacks within the capital city striking targets at will – and mostly on broad daylight.
This is not the first time the Islamist fighters had shelled both airport and Halane compounds though more on the latter than the other.
