Mogadishu: Somali security forces shot dead three extremists and foiled an attempted al-Shabab attack on the presidential palace in the Capital, a police officer said on Saturday.
Six people were dead in all including a suicide car bomber, Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press, saying the situation had calmed and security in the area was being tightened.
The midday attack began when a car bomb detonated near a checkpoint close to the presidential palace after security forces engaged with gunmen. A second car bomb exploded in the same area shortly afterward, Hussein said.
The attack came a week after a similar one on the interior ministry compound in Mogadishu killed at least nine people. The Somalia-based al-Shabab extremist group, an arm of al-Qaida, often targets high-profile places in the Capital.