Rocket attack on Somali capital kills at least 3

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA): At least three people were killed and two others were wounded in an attack on the Somali capital Tuesday with improvised rockets, said an official.

“The attack was by rockets. The attackers used an unconventional method to launch the rockets and they were fired from the outskirts of Mogadishu. One of the rockets landed on a civilian house, killing three family members, including the father,” said Somali police spokesman Major Sadiq Aden Ali Doodishe, who spoke by phone to Anadolu.

At least two other people were wounded and were rushed to a hospital for treatment.

Doodishe said the police arrested one suspect.

The Somali General Kahiye Police Academy and other security offices are located near where the rockets landed.

Media affiliated with the al-Shabaab group reported that it claimed responsibility for the attack and said it targeted the Somali presidential palace in Mogadishu, which has previously been targeted by al-Shabaab with mortar attacks.

Al-Shabaab has intensified its attacks in the country, targeting African Union peacekeepers and Somali government troops since Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an “all-out war” against the group last year.

In early June, 54 soldiers from Uganda serving under the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia were killed during an attack by al-Shabaab in the town of Bulo Marer, some 110 kilometers (68 miles) south of Mogadishu.