Somalia's main insurgent group, the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab, claimed responsibility Thursday for a suicide attack on Mogadishu's main airport. The assault killed at least two African troops, three civilians and five suicide attackers.

A suicide squad of Islamic extremists tried to blast their way into the airport, moments after top foreign envoys met with the Somali president.

Security officials said two vehicles carrying suicide bombers armed with rifles sped towards the main entrance of the airport.

Soldiers from the African Union mission, AMISOM, fired a rocket that destroyed the first car but five militants leapt out of the second vehicle and sprayed gunfire in all directions before blowing themselves up.

"Specially-trained fighters from the Shebab mujahedeen (holy warriors) carried out a holy attack on the Christian forces of Uganda," said a statement posted on one of the websites used by the insurgent group.

Al- Shebab, which also claimed a July 11th suicide attack that killed 76 people in Kampala, has promised to keep targeting AMISOM. It claims that AMISOM is the last barrier preventing the insurgents from seizing full control of Mogadishu and toppling the president.