SOMALIA: Mogadishu car bombing leaves at least eight dead

A bombing claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group killed eight people and injured 15 more in the Somali capital on Wednesday, a spokesman for the city’s mayor said. Bombings are a near-daily occurrence in Mogadishu. Most are claimed by al-Shabab militia, which is fighting to overthrow the weak UN-backed government and drive out the African […]

A bombing claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group killed eight people and injured 15 more in the Somali capital on Wednesday, a spokesman for the city’s mayor said.

Bombings are a near-daily occurrence in Mogadishu. Most are claimed by al-Shabab militia, which is fighting to overthrow the weak UN-backed government and drive out the African Union peacekeeping force that supports it.

“We have confirmed that five civilians, including a mother and her son, have died,” said Abdifatah Omar Halane, spokesman for the Mogadishu mayor.

A Reuters reporter at the scene saw burnt bodies and a wrecked car near a damaged police checkpoint outside a restaurant near the city’s port.

A spokesman for al-Shabab’s military operations told Reuters news agency that one of the group’s fighters was killed in the incident.

“One mujahid (fighter) was martyred after he targeted security officials with his car bomb,” said the spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab.