Al-shabaab raid kills 11 people in Somalia, including deputy minister

MOGADISHU: An attack involving gunmen and bomb blasts on a complex housing government ministries in Somalia’s capital killed at least 11 people on Saturday, including the deputy labour minister, officials said.

Claimed by the al-shabaab Islamist group, the assault was a sign of the insurgency group’s continued ability to strike at the heart of Somalia’s government, despite years of foreign military support for Mogadishu.

The fighting began with two blasts at the gates of the complex housing the labour and works ministries.

Police say at least four gunmen then stormed the government buildings, leading to a shootout as officers rushed to confront the attackers.

“The death toll reached 11, three of them women, and the number of wounded is 15,” said Abdukadir Abdirahman Adan, director of Mogadishu’s Aamin ambulance service.

Senator Ilyas Ali Hassan confirmed that Saqar Ibrahim Abdalla, the deputy minister for labour and social affairs, was also killed. BEIRA/CAIRNS: Aid workers faced disarray, a clamour for help and mounting anger as they headed out across central Mozambique, struggling to assist tens of thousands of people battered by one of southern Africa’s most powerful storms.

A week after tropical Cyclone Idai lashed Mozambique with winds of nearly 200kmph, rescue efforts stepped up a gear on Friday but the situation was chaotic.

Humanitarian agencies are racing to rescue those still trapped, feed those who have been brought to safety and protect them from potential outbreaks of malaria and cholera.

The confirmed death toll in Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe topped 550 on Friday, with 293 killed in Mozambique, and 259 in Zimbabwe, according to the UN Migration agency IOM.

Around 1.7 million people have been affected and hundreds are still missing.

More than 65,000 people are already in shelters in central Mozambique and other sites are being opened. In Dondo, near Beira, food distribution finally started on Thursday at one of 20 schools transformed into emergency shelters.

TWIN CYCLONES BATTER AUSTRALIA

A category 4 cyclone slammed into Australia’s remote northern coast on Saturday, while a second, equally powerful storm bore down on the country’s west.

Cyclone Trevor made landfall on the Northern Territory coast near the Gulf of Carpentaria town of Port Mcarthur. Cyclone Veronica was expected to make landfall on the Western Australia coastline later in the day.