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15-07-2024
MOGADISHU: Dozens people have been killed and injured after gunfire erupted between security forces and inmates at a prison in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
The confrontation broke out on Saturday at the city’s main prison when armed inmates attempted to escape, prompting an exchange of fire that left five prisoners and three soldiers dead, said Colonel Abdiqani Khalaf, spokesperson for the Somali army’s custodial corps.
“Violent elements tried to stir terror in the central prison,” said Khalaf.
Eighteen other prisoners and three soldiers were wounded in the incident, he said. No prisoners escaped.
Security sources said that the inmates who had attempted to escape were from al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked group. Having obtained weapons, they had launched what appeared to be a well-orchestrated escape plan.
Somalia National Television reported that security sources had “concluded an operation”, in which “terrorists who were sentenced to death attacked prison guards”. The five slain prisoners were “terrorist inmates”, it said, posting on X.
Locals reported hearing grenade blasts and gunfire. “There was an explosion inside the prison and a heavy exchange of gunfire followed,” Abdirahman Ali, a witness, told media.
“I called my brother who is a member of the prison guards, and he told me that several al-Shabab inmates secretly obtained weapons and grenades and tried to escape,” said Shuceyb Ahmed, another witness.
Al-Shabab has been fighting to topple the fragile central government in Mogadishu for more than 17 years, carrying out numerous bombings and other attacks in the capital and other parts of the country.
The government has joined forces with local armed groups to fight the al-Qaeda affiliate in a campaign supported by an African Union force and US air raids but the offensive has suffered setbacks, with al-Shabab earlier this year claiming it had taken multiple locations in the centre of the country.
Somalia’s government is seeking to slow the withdrawal of African peacekeepers and warning of a potential security vacuum, documents seen by media, with neighboring countries fretting that resurgent al-Shabab armed group fighters could seize power. The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a peacekeeping force, is committed to withdrawing by December 31, when a smaller new force is expected to replace it.
However, in a letter last month to the acting chair of the African Union Peace and Security Council, the government asked to delay until September the withdrawal of half the 4,000 troops due to leave by the end of June. The letter has not been reported before.
The government had previously recommended in a March joint assessment with the African Union (AU), reviewed by Reuters that the overall withdrawal timeline be adjusted “based on the actual readiness and capabilities” of Somali forces.
The joint assessment, which was mandated by the United Nations Security Council, warned that a “hasty drawdown of ATMIS personnel will contribute to a security vacuum”.
“I’ve never been more concerned about the direction of my home country,” said Mursal Khalif, an independent member of the defence committee in the Federal Parliament of Somalia.
The European Union and United States, the top funders of the AU force in Somalia, have sought to reduce the peacekeeping operation due to concerns about long-term financing and sustainability, four diplomatic sources and a senior Ugandan official said. (Int’l News Desk)
