Mogadishu: Ten civilians were killed in an Al-Shabaab attack on a house on Tuesday in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The government reported that the raid occurred in the northern Abdiasiz district around 1200 GMT and that three civilians had been hurt.

It added that during the attack, "the security forces rescued and extracted many other civilians from that house and other nearby buildings." Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, made the attack its own.

In an operation supported by US airstrikes and an African Union force known as ATMIS, the Somali army and local clan militias have recently taken back some territory from the militants.

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Al-Shabaab, however, still holds control over some rural areas from which they have launched numerous counterattacks in Somalia and in surrounding nations.

Several thousand fighters make up Al-Shabab, including an undetermined number of foreigners from both international and nearby Kenya as well as other regional nations.

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Over the years, the extremists have carried out a number of high-profile attacks in Kenya, including in the nation's capital, Nairobi, and at a US military installation. Al-Shabab has long fought for the implementation of strict laws in Somalia and the withdrawal of foreign troops stationed there.

To combat the extremists, the US, Turkey, and a multinational African Union force are all present militarily in Somalia. Following his election last year, the president of Somalia, with the assistance of some local militias that had retaken some communities from the extremists, launched a military offensive against Al-Shabab.

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The government is trying to squeeze the extremists' funding sources, so they have retaliated under pressure. At least 120 people were killed in a bombing in Mogadishu in October, and at least 35 people were killed in two bombings on Wednesday in an area at the centre of the government offensive.