MOGADISHU — A suicide squad killed at least five people as they tried to blast their way into Mogadishu airport yesterday, moments after top foreign envoys met the Somali president.
The attack was claimed by the Shebab movement and capped an offensive against the government that has left hundreds dead.
Two vehicles carrying bombers armed with rifles sped towards the main entrance of the airport compound, witnesses and security officials said.
Soldiers from the African Union AMISOM mission fired a rocket that destroyed the first car but five people leapt out of the second and sprayed gunfire in all directions before blowing themselves up.
"The lead car was destroyed by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fired by one of our soldiers and it exploded at the main entrance," AMISOM spokesman Bahoku Barigye said.
But "three or four men jumped out of one of the cars and started shooting everybody," he said, adding that two of the attackers blew up their suicide vests 200 metres from the main terminal building.
Barigye said two AMISOM soldiers were killed and three wounded, while the bodies of five attackers were accounted for. — AFP