At least seven soldiers were killed when warriors from the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab stormed a jail in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland early Friday, police and the group said.
Al-Shabab said it had released at least 400 prisoners, many of them members, in its attack on the main prison in Bosaso, Puntland’s largest city, early Friday. The authorities did not confirm that figure.
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“Last night, many well-armed men attacked us from different directions. We fought back but eventually they entered the central prison by force with explosions. They freed the prisoners and took most of them with them,” prison guard Mohamed Abdi told Reuters . .
“It was a hell of a battle … When I fought inside, we lost five soldiers.”
He said two other soldiers who had been sent to reinforce the regular prison guards were killed in their car which was set on fire.
Al-Shabab confirmed that its fighters had carried out the attack and said they had released at least 400 prisoners. The group often exaggerates its success in such abuses.
“The detainees included men and women who were members of al-Shabab and who had been in prison for more than ten years,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, a spokesman for al-Shabaab’s military operations, told Reuters.
Al-Shabab often carries out such attacks in Somalia and elsewhere as part of its campaign to remove the central government in Mogadishu and establish its own government. Bosasa’s police chief, Colonel Hussein Ali, said an operation was under way to recapture prisoners who had escaped or been removed by fighters.
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