Five persons, including three civilians were killed in a gun battle after Al-Shabaab militants opened fire on a checkpoint in Mogadishu, the country’s capital on Monday.

Officials said two gunmen of the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab fighters who have been fighting for more than a decade to topple the government attacked the checkpoint and exchanged fire with security forces.

“Two Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked the security checkpoint and exchanged fire with the security forces. The two gunmen had been killed but two of the security forces and three civilians also died during the fighting,” Mohamed Adan, a security official said. 

In a statement, Al-Shabaab, which has lost many if its strongholds but still controls large parts of rural Somalia claimed responsibility for the attack, saying two of its fighters had been killed when they overran the checkpoint.

Al-Shabaab were driven out of Mogadishu by government forces backed by a 20,000-strong African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in 2011 but they still carry out attacks including suicide bombings against government targets.