Today, Wednesday, the Somali police announced that they repelled an armed attack, which was claimed by the Mujahideen Youth Movement, at one of the entrances to the international airport in eastern Mogadishu, where there is a military base hosting African peacekeepers, the United Nations and other international organizations.
This came according to a statement by the police spokesman, Colonel Abdel Fattah Adam, who said that two gunmen attacked a military base in the vicinity of the airport in the Wabri neighborhood, east of Mogadishu.
He added: The security forces responded to the attack and killed the gunmen who tried to cross one of the airport entrances.
Reuters quoted an eyewitness in the area as saying that the attackers made their way through the gate and started shooting.
"I saw a number of injured African Union soldiers on the ground. We were walking away from the scene and two of my friends were injured near the DFS Hotel," said a witness named Mahad Hirsi in Hallan.
This military base hosts the peacekeeping forces of the African Union (AMISOM), the United Nations and other international organizations, and is located near the airport.
In a statement to Anadolu Agency, a navigational source at the airport, who preferred not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that the attack caused the suspension of air traffic for minutes before it could be resumed.
For its part, the armed Al-Shabaab movement claimed responsibility for the attack on Mogadishu International Airport, according to the "Somalia Mimo" website affiliated with it.
This website clarified, in a brief statement, that the movement managed to enter the airport and killed a number of African forces (unspecified).
Somalia has been at war for years against this group, which was founded in early 2004, and it is an armed movement ideologically affiliated with Al-Qaeda and has adopted numerous operations that have claimed hundreds of lives.