MOGADISHU Nov 16 (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab militants said they fired
mortar bombs at the presidential palace in Mogadishu on Sunday, but
government and police spokesmen said none had landed inside the compound.
The Islamist militants attacked the president's compound on July 8 but were
repulsed by security forces. The president was not there at the time. It was
not clear if the president was at the palace at the time of Sunday's attack.
"We have fired several mortar rounds on the presidential palace, and we will
give details later," Abu Musab, the spokesman for al Shabaab's military
operations, told Reuters.
"We targeted the palace because it is the government's headquarters and all
top officials are are there," he said.
Officials said the mortars caused no damage.
"No single mortar landed on the palace," government spokesman Ridwan Haji
told Reuters.
A police captain who only gave his name as Ali said the mortars landed
outside the presidential palace.
African Union forces along with the Somali army launched a new offensive
this year against al Shabaab, which is fighting to impose its harsh
interpretation of Islamic law on Somalia.
Driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, al Shabaab has lost control of several
towns in the latest offensive, but officials say the Islamists still control
tracts of countryside and settlements from where they have continued their
guerrilla-style campaign. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; writing
by James Macharia; editing by Mark Trevelyan and David Clarke)