Five inmates said to be from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab jihadist group and a guard were killed in a shootout in the main prison in the capital, Mogadishu, on Saturday, a prison official and witnesses said.
Jailed members of the Al-Qaeda-linked group managed to obtain weapons and launch what appeared to be a well-planned prison break, security sources said.
“All five inmate assailants who tried violently to escape the prison were killed and neutralised after engaging in an armed confrontation with the prison guard force,” Mohamed Hassan, an officer with the Somali Custodial Corps, told AFP.
“A member of the prison guard force died and three others were wounded in the incident,” he added.
“The security agencies are investigating the incident, but the situation in the prison is calm now.”
Al-Shabaab has been waging a deadly insurgency against the fragile central government in Mogadishu for more than 17 years.
The government has joined hands with local clan militias to fight the Islamists in a campaign supported by an African Union force and US air strikes.
But the offensive has suffered setbacks, with Al-Shabaab earlier this year claiming it had taken multiple locations in the centre of the country.
