Somali Islamists attack regional headquarters in central city
Somalia's Al-Shabab Islamists detonated a car bomb outside a regional government headquarters on Thursday in the central city of Baidoa and fought their way inside the compound, police and the militants said, Reuters reported.
"First, a car bomb exploded at the southwest palace gate and then armed fighters went in," Captain Ali Ahmed, a police officer, told Reuters from Baidoa. Islamist militants confirmed they were behind the attack.
Ahmed said fighting was continuing inside although he said the regional president Sharif Hassan had escaped.