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Somali Islamist militants claim deadly palace attack


    MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab said they carried out Friday's car bomb and gun attack against the presidential palace in central Mogadishu that left several people dead.

    "We targetted the so-called presidential palace. Our fighters are fighting inside the palace compound," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, told Reuters a little over an hour after the first bomb blast.

    However, police said the security forces had snuffed out the attack.

    (Reporting by Feisal Omar; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by James Macharia)