MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – At least six people, including death row inmates were killed and many more wounded in an attempted jail break in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday.
The attempted breakout was staged by death row inmates convicted of being members of the militant group Al-Shabaab after gaining access to firearms and grenades, triggering a shootout with guards.
State-run TV reported that five prisoners were ‘neutralized’ in an operation carried out by an elite police unit that saw the attempted prison break repelled.
The personal bodyguard of the chief of the Somali Custodial Corps identified as Abdullahi Gab was among the dead and a number of other people, including soldiers were wounded in the gun battle that lasted for several hours, according to Universal Somali TV.
The incident is not the first of its kind, but at least 9 people were killed in a similar attempted breakout in the high security prison in 2020 that saw the escape of an Al-Shabaab inmate. In 2020, dozens of militants escaped after they shot their way of a prison in the commercial port city of Bosaso.
The incident comes months after the chairman of the country’s military court voiced concerns about overcrowded conditions in the prison which currently accommodates twice the number of inmates it was originally designed to hold.
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