At least 11 people are dead after Somali security forces repelled an attack on a prison housing al-Shabab militants in Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack Sunday that targeted a prison run by Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency.
Gunmen stormed the facility after a car bomb exploded outside the main prison gate. Witnesses tell VOA's Somali Service that security forces killed all the attackers and no prisoners escaped.
A spokesman for Somalia's Ministry of National Security, Mohamed Yusuf Osman, says the dead include a civilian, three security guards and seven al-Shabab militants.
The al-Qaida-linked militant group has steadily lost territory to African Union and Somali government forces during the past four years, but remains a threat to Somalia's stability.
The group's fighters have killed six members of Somalia's parliament this year and carried out two assaults on the presidential palace, Villa Somalia.
