At least five people reported injured as the Al Qaeda linked terror group claims responsibility for the assault on a regional government building, which also houses the mayor's office .
Al Shabab has stepped up attacks in recent months in a show of resilience after President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government launched an offensive against the Al Qaeda-allied militants last August. (Reuters Archive)
At least five people have been reported injured in a blast on at the gates of the mayor's office in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, and gunfire continued to sound following an attack by an Al Qaeda-linked terror group, a member of the ambulance service and a witness said.
The country's Al Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Aamin Ambulance Services, told Reuters news agency that ambulance staff had so far evacuated five injured people from the scene of the blast.
The Associated Press news agency reported at least 16 wounded, with no fatalities so far.
Gunfire was still ongoing in the area and it was difficult for ambulances to access the area, he said.
"We were in the office and we were deafened by a blast, we ran out, gunfire followed," Farah Abdullahi, who works in the mayor's office, told Reuters.
Another witness told AP that the attack began with a suicide bombing before gunmen entered a regional government office and exchanged fire with security.
The staffer, Mustafa Abdulle, said most of the workers were rescued by security forces.
The mayor's office is located in the local government headquarters building in a well guarded area of Mogadishu.
Roads in the area have concrete barriers and multiple roadblocks. The building is about one and a half kilometres away from Villa Somalia, the president's office.
Security forces immediately put the area under lockdown but an exchange of gunfire between the army and the assailants was ongoing, an intelligence officer who only gave his name as Ahmed, told Reuters.
Al Shabab frequently carries out bombings and gun assaults on targets in Mogadishu and across the country.
The terror group has been attacking Somalia's central government since 2006 as it seeks to topple it and replace it with its own rule.
Al Shabab has stepped up attacks in recent months in a show of resilience after President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government launched an offensive against the Al Qaeda-allied militants last August.In recent days Somali government forces had retaken from Al Shabab a strategic port town, prompting fears of reprisal from the armed fighters.
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(With input from news agency language)
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