13 killed in Al-Shabaab attack near Mogadishu airport in Somalia

At least 13 people died Tuesday and nine were injured in a double car bomb attack close to the Aden Adde International Airport in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, security sources told EFE.

Following the two powerful explosions, claimed by Somali jihadist militant group AlShabaab, shooting was heard close to the airport, where the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) is also located.

One of the car bombs went off at a security checkpoint of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) at the entrance to the airport, and soldiers exchanged gunfire with the attackers, according to witnesses.

Soldiers were among the 13 people killed in the attacks, security sources told EFE.

AMISOM confirmed the double attack, but it did not confirm the number of victims.

AlShabaab, the Somali militant group affiliated with AlQaida, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in Mogadishu, where they have carried out numerous attacks on hotels and restaurants in recent months.

One of the most serious attacks took place on July 25 when a group from AlShabaab barricaded themselves inside the Nasa Hablod hotel in Mogadishu, resulting in the deaths of 35 people.

Weakened by the death of its leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, in a US drone strike in 2014, the militant group aims to establish an Islamic state in Somalia _ based on the Wahabi version of Islam _ where they control vast territories in the south and center of the East African country.

The group has carried out various attacks against AMISOM military bases and killed hundreds of soldiers from Kenya, Nurundi, Uganda and Ethiopia.