Militants attack parliament building in Somalia

MOGADISHU, May 24, (agencies): Militants in Mogadishu on Saturday carried out a multi-pronged, complex attack against the country's parliament building involving a car bomb, suicide bomber and gunmen on foot, police said.
 At least seven people were killed, including six attackers and one soldier who tried to stopped a suicide bomber from entering the building, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein. Many members of parliament were inside the building as the attack unfolded.
 Gunfire and two blasts rang out near the building long after the attack began and after police had confirmed six attackers' deaths, suggesting other militants may have also been involved. Security forces shot and killed four men, Hussein said. The two other attackers who died were the driver of the car bomb and the bomber on foot.
Witnesses said Shebab militants, the Al-Qaeda-linked group fighting to overthrow Somalia's internationally-backed government, stormed into the complex while MPs were meeting inside, and a spokesman for the militants confirmed they were behind the attack.
"The so-called Somali parliament is a military zone. Our fighters are there to carry out a holy operation," Shebab's military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, told AFP by telephone.
"We shall issue a comprehensive report after the conclusion of the operation," he added.
Recent Shebab attacks have targeted key areas of government, or the security forces, in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities that they are winning the war against the Islamist fighters.
The parliament attack appeared to be a repeat of an assault on February against the heavily-fortified presidential palace, which saw a car bomb go off at the gates of the Villa Somalia followed by an attack by suicide gunmen which left at least 16 dead including the attackers.
The Shebab, who also claimed responsibility for the September 2013 attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall in which at least 67 people were killed, have also carried out a string of other high-profile attacks in Mogadishu this year.
Hardline Shebab insurgents once controlled most of southern and central Somalia, including large parts of the capital, but were driven out of fixed positions in Mogadishu and Somalia's major towns by a 22,000-strong African Union force.