Mogadishu - Gunmen from the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab killed at least eight officers in a raid on a police station near the capital, police and the militants said on Saturday.
Al Shabaab fighters stormed a police station on the edge of Afgoi town, 30km southwest of Mogadishu, killing eight officers and stealing three pick-up trucks, including one that had a machine gun mounted on it.
Major Abdikadir Hussein, a police officer, said: "We traced them this morning, killed 10 of them and secured our pick-up with a gun hooked on," he added, saying the Islamists ran off with the other two vehicles.
Urban strongholds
Al-Shabaab, which wants to topple a Western-backed government in Mogadishu, has in the past stepped up the number of raids during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The group's military operations spokesperson, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said his fighters had killed 12 officers in the raid on the Afgoi police station and lost one gunman in the second battle.
The latest assault highlights al-Shabaab's ability to launch attacks even though it has lost territory and urban strongholds since a major military offensive against began last year.