Al Shabab car bomb attack kills 5 policemen in Somalia

A suicide car bomb at Mogadishu’s traffic police headquarters on Monday killed at least five officers, a regional spokesman said.

According to Benadir administration spokesman, Abdifitah Omar Halane three other police were wounded and eight civilians injured, Reuters reports.

“Two men from al Shabaab militia group driving a Toyota Carib attacked the traffic police headquarter. The car exploded at the front gate, three traffic police officers were killed and eight civilians were wounded at the shops next to the gate. One of the attackers was killed at the headquarters after he opened fire,” he said.

Police managed to kill one of the attackers who stormed into the traffic police headquarters and opened fire.

BREAKING: Suspected Al-Shabab militants launch massive attack on Mogadishu's traffic police headquarters in east of the city: sources

— Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) May 9, 2016

Al Shabaab said they were behind the attack, they have also claimed that the death toll on the government side was nine policemen.

The front of the traffic headquarters was damaged extensively by the blast, which also destroyed nearby shops.

It was not possible to verify the death toll independently. Al Shabaab, which frequently attacks military and civilian targets in its campaign to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government, has inflated casualty figures in the past.