Large explosion, gunfire at Somalia's intelligence HQ

Suspected Shebab militants attacked Somalia's intelligence headquarters and detention facility in central Mogadishu on Sunday, setting off a bomb and opening fire on the complex, police and witnesses said.

A large explosion, which police sources said they believed was a car bomb, was followed by a fierce exchange of gunfire. Police sources said the style of attack bore all the hallmarks of the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist Shebab militia.

The facility, which contains a high-security prison, is located close the Villa Somalia, the complex that houses the office of Somalia's internationally-backed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

The Villa Somalia was hit by a similar attack in July, when a car bomb was detonated and Shebab fighters stormed the complex before blowing themselves up.

The presidential palace was also attacked in a similar fashion in February, while the parliament complex was hit by a coordinated bomb and gun attack in May.

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Shebab rebels have continued to target key areas of government or the security forces, in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities -- who are backed by the African Union's 22,000-strong AMISOM force -- that they are winning the war against the Islamist fighters.

The latest attack also comes a day after AU forces claimed to have liberated a former Shebab stronghold in Somalia as part of a joint offensive with government troops aimed at capturing key ports from the Islamist fighters and cutting off a key source of revenue for the rebels.