Somali police nab 24 militants, recover explosive devices

Somalia's security forces on Tuesday rounded up 24 Al-Shabaab militants in an overnight raid seizing a cache of weapons and explosive devices, an official confirmed.

A local government spokesman in Mogadishu, Abdifitah Halane told Xinhua the intelligence officials acting on a tip off raided a make shift shelter occupied by Internally Displaced People (IDP) near the Federal Parliament building Monday night.

"Our intelligence officers got information from members of the public that the suspects were hiding the camp. They launched a raid overnight and arrested 24 suspects with a number of weapons including IEDs," said Halane.

The raid comes days after the intelligence agency issued a warning to the public of possible attacks especially at airport and seaport.

It also follows sustained military offensive in the semi autonomous region, Puntland in northern Somalia which the regional state indicates it had killed about 70 Al-Shabaab fighters and captured 30 others.

Mogadishu has an estimated 250,000 internally displaced people spread in various camps in the city. Endit