At least 19 people, among them suspected militants, were killed in an attempted prison break in the Somalian
capital of Mogadishu, authorities said on Tuesday.
Fifteen prisoners and four guards died in the incident on Monday at
the central prison, according to Abdiqani Mohamed Qalaf, a prison
spokesman on state TV.
This was a rise from the eight people initially announced dead on
Monday.
Some of those involved are suspected to be al-Shabaab members, and
one militant escaped alive, Qalaf said.
The militants took small arms from prison guards and started shooting
randomly at the policemen in and around the prison, police said on
Monday.
They were able to capture parts of the prison, and it took security
forces nearly two hours to end the siege, police officer Ali Hassan
Kulmiye told dpa.
Police have said an investigation is under way.
The terrorist militia al-Shabaab has been fighting for supremacy in
the poor country in the Horn of Africa for years.
The fundamentalists control large parts of the south and
centre of the country and repeatedly carry out attacks.
Somalia's government is supported by the US military, which launches
airstrikes, and an African Union (AU) force.
A general view shows the Mogadishu central cell in Mogadishu, Somalia