Suicide attack on Somalia presidential palace

MOGADISHU: Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels launched a major suicide attack Friday against the heavily-fortified presidential palace, home to the country's internationally-backed government, killing officials and guards before dying in a fierce gunbattle.
A huge car bomb exploded at the perimeter of the central Mogadishu complex, and a group of at least nine suicide attackers breached the Villa Somalia compound, one of the best-defended locations in the war-torn country. Shebab rebels immediately claimed responsibility.
The country's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said he was unharmed. He branded the Shebab "a marginal group on the brink of extinction" and vowed Somali and African Union forces would "eliminate" the group.
"A suicide bomber rammed a car full of explosives into the perimeter wall of the presidential palace and another one with heavily armed men penetrated the area where the first one hit," said Hussein Isa, who witness the attack unfold.
Security forces fought a fierce gunbattle with the attackers, all young men or teenagers who appeared to be disguised in police uniforms. Another police official said nine attackers were later found dead and that five Somali soldiers or officials had also died.
A government source said Somalia's former deputy intelligence chief Mohamed Nur Shirbow and Mohamed Abdulle, a close aide to the prime minister, were among the victims.
A spokesman for Shebab confirmed to AFP by telephone that the group was behind the attack.