A suicide car bomber with heavy explosives plotted by the terrorist group al-Shabab has targeted the Mogadishu police commissioner. The explosion in Somalia’s capital killed at least nine people and injured eight others.
The bomb blast tore through a busy intersection in the capital, leaving blast holes on nearby walls and cars stripped to their charred, carcass-like frames. Mortars struck the presidential palace, local media reported.
BREAKING: At least four mortar rounds have rained down on residential areas near Somalia's presidential palace in Mogadishu. It is unclear the exact casualties resulted from the bombing.
Somali police spokesman Sadiiq Dudishe said, "The objective of the terrorists was to get rid of the targeted police commander, other officers with him and any other civilian bystanders."
In their claim of responsibility, al-Shabab said the blast had killed and injured a "large number" of bodyguards and destroyed several vehicles.
It was the second such large explosion in the city this month. A blast targeting a teashop killed at least 10 people last week.
Last month, a suicide bomb attack at a military base in Mogadishu killed at least 15 people.
Al-Shabab controlled the capital until 2011 when it was pushed out by African Union forces. The group remains in control of large swaths of the countryside, especially in the middle of Somalia and the south of the country.
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