Eight killed in attack on UN in Somalia Warnings: Somali government soldiers arrive to secure the United Nations compound following a suicide bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu. Somalia's al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents have shot and blasted their way into the United Nations compound in Mogadishu, leaving eight people dead in the most serious attack on the UN in the troubled country in recent years. Three foreigners in the UN compound died in Wednesday's attack, along with at least two Somali security guards and three civilians in the surrounding streets, officials said. Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon condemned the brazen daylight raid as a "senseless and despicable attack on innocent UN civilians." Shebab fighters, who boasted about the killings, used both a car bomb and suicide attackers to blast their way into the fortified base in central Mogadishu near the airport. Security warnings of an attack have been in place for weeks, and UN staff regularly practise sheltering in a secure bunker inside the compound. "Our commandos attacked the UN compound . . . we set off an explosion and entered the compound," a senior Shebab official told AFP, saying they entered to attack "the infidel forces." Somali and African Union troops later moved into the complex - despite the Islamists battling back with heavy gunfire - to end the hour and a half siege. The situation is under control . . . Somali soldiers along with African Union forces stormed the compound and killed the attackers," Somali police official Abdulahi Osman said. He said three civilians were confirmed killed, caught in the crossfire in the streets near the compound. UN sources said one staff member and two contractors were killed along with at least two Somali security guards, although the nationalities of the foreigners could not be immediately confirmed. Somalia's capital has been hit by a series of attacks including suicide and car bombers, mortar attacks and shootings, although in recent weeks the city has been relatively calm. Islamist Shebab militants used to control most of the seaside capital until they abandoned fixed positions in August 2011, but the insurgents have since carried out a string of attacks against the UN-backed government.