'Three Shebab militants killed' in attack on Somali intelligence base

Mogadishu

 Shebab militants launched a major suicide attack on Sunday against a military intelligence base in the capital Mogadishu, setting off a car bomb before storming inside, security officials said.

 Somalia's interior ministry said the three attackers were all killed in the raid, and that Somali security forces who fought them suffered no casualties.

 "There was an attack against a base belonging to the security forces. The violent elements used a car bomb to get inside the compound. There was a heavy exchange of gunfire," said Adan Mohamed, a Somali security official.

 In a brief statement, NISA said the attack had failed.

 "The attack was successfully thwarted by our forces. None of our buildings nor bases were entered," it said.

 Somali officials displayed three corpses after the attack, which came at the start of Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan -- a period when the the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab, who are fighting to topple the Mogadishu government, have in the past intensified attacks.

 "The security forces have foiled an attempted attack by the desperate terrorists," interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf told reporters.

 "One of them detonated himself and two others were shot dead. They were trying to storm the premises but they have been taken out before they reached their objective. There was no casualty on our side," he added.