Somali security forces foiled an attempted jailbreak Saturday in Mogadishu's main central prison after militant inmates, using pistols and hand grenades, attacked prison guards, two security sources told VOA Somali Service.

The militant inmates fired on the guards and threw hand grenades before an exchange of heavy gunfire. It is believed the weapons were smuggled into the prison.

Officials said security forces are in control of the prison.

A spokesperson for the Somali Custodial Corps, Abdiqani Mohamed Khalaf, told reporters in Mogadishu that three prison guards were killed and three others were injured in the attack.

Khalaf also confirmed that five militants were killed and 18 were injured in the attack. A post on social media platform X by the state news agency earlier reported the killing of the five militant inmates.

All five inmates who were fatally shot had been convicted of involvement in militant bombings and smuggling of explosives in Mogadishu. Four of them were on death row, and the fifth inmate was serving a life sentence.

One of the inmates on death row was convicted for his role in multiple attacks, including the raid on the Mogadishu mayor's office last year and a suicide bombing at a military academy in July last year, according to a security source.

A second inmate who also was on death row was convicted for involvement in the militant attack on the Hayat hotel in August 2022, which claimed the lives of 21 people.

In August 2020, al-Shabab inmates obtained weapons and tried to force a jailbreak at the same facility. Four prison guards and 15 inmates -- almost all of them al-Shabab convicts -- were killed in the attack. One militant inmate escaped.

In the 2020 attack, the weapons were smuggled into the prison by friends and family who hid them inside food and other items during visits.