Eight people were killed in Mogadishu after gunfire erupted between security forces and prisoners attempting to escape with smuggled weapons, according to state media and the prisons service.
The clash in the capital’s main prison resulted in the deaths of five prisoners and three soldiers, with 21 people injured. Prison service spokesperson Abdiqani Mohamed Qalaf blamed a “violent group” of inmates, who were members of al Shabaab, sentenced to death. An investigation is underway.
Al Shabaab has been battling Somalia’s central government for nearly two decades.
