Militants attack Somali presidential palace compound

MOGADISHU: Al Qaeda-linked militants al Shabaab attacked the Somali presidential palace compound on Friday, blasting through a gate with a car bomb and engaging in a fierce gun battle with African peacekeepers, police said.

Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was not harmed in the assaul. “President just called me to say he’s unharmed,” UNSpecial Representative Nick Kay wrote on his official Twitter feed. Abdikadir Ahmed, a senior police officer, told Reuters the fighting took place at the house of Somalia’s top military commander, Gen Dahir Aden Indha Qarshe. REUTERS