Militants in Mogadishu on Saturday carried out a multi-pronged, complex attack against the country's parliament building involving a car bomb, suicide bomber and gunmen on foot, police said, according to Reuters.
Frightened members of parliament blamed the military for failing to prevent the attack, but other politicians praised the army for limiting the attack's damages, Reuters reported.
At least seven people were killed, including six attackers and one soldier who tried to stopped a suicide bomber from entering the building, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein, according to Reuters. Other officials later indicated that more people died in the assault but gave no figures.
Gunfire and two blasts rang out near the building long after the attack began and after police had confirmed six attackers' deaths. Security forces shot and killed four men, Hussein said, Reuters reported. The two other attackers who died were the driver of the car bomb and the bomber on foot.
Many members of parliament were inside the building as the attack unfolded, and they made a mad scramble to flee, Reuters reported. Two were wounded by gunfire, said legislator Mohamed Ali.
Parliamentarian Dahir Amin Jesow, who was inside parliament debating Somalia's development bank when the attack began, said he and his fellow legislators evacuated out of the back of the building, according to Reuters.
Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group, has carried out several such complex attacks in Mogadishu, including on the city's main court complex and attempts against the presidential palace, Reuters reported. The group was booted out of the capital in 2011 but still controls wide areas of southern Somalia.
Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said in a statement that the terrorists again showed they are "against all Somalis by killing our innocent brothers and sisters," but he did not give a death toll and said the facts were still being established, according to Reuters.
Later, at a news conference, Ahmed said he had instructed the army to launch an immediate offensive against al-Shabab, Reuters reported.
