Huge blast and gunfire in central Mogadishu claimed by Al-Shabaab | News

MOGADISHU, Oct 5, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A massive blast followed by gunfire was heard in central Mogadishu on Saturday, near a detention facility where Somalia's intelligence service often holds Islamist Al-Shabaab militants, a police officer and multiple witnesses told AFP. Al-Shabaab later claimed the attack in a statement. A wave of renewed attacks by the Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist movement has hit Somalia, a poor and unstable country in the Horn of Africa. The group has seized control of dozens of towns and villages since launching an offensive at the beginning of the year, undoing nearly all the progress made by the Somali government during its military campaign in 2022 and 2023. Several witnesses told AFP that smoke rose above the...