BREAKING: Car bomb blast claimed by al Shabab kills at least five in Mogadishu

December 22, 2018  12H:01  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Natalie Duval and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Djibouti

DJIBOUTI - Police said at least five people were killed and four wounded in a car bomb attack claimed by al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab close to the president’s residence in the Somali capital.

A second explosion followed nearby but the cause has yet to be determined, Major Mohamed Hussein told us at Reuters on Saturday.

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Al Shabaab, in comments broadcast on its Radio Andalus, claimed responsibility for both blasts and said the second was also a car bomb targeting those who had responded to the first.

“The first suicide car bomb at the checkpoint killed five people mostly security soldiers. Four others were injured. Death toll may rise. It is too early to have details of second blast,” Hussein said.

A Reuters witness at the scene of the second blast said he saw at least two bodies.

Ahmed Abdi, another police officer, said the car bomb exploded at a checkpoint some 400 meters from the president’s residence.

Al Shabaab carries out frequent attacks in Mogadishu. Its members want to dislodge the government and impose its rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia law.

BREAKING: Al Shabab bomb blast in Mogadishu: At least 20 people being held hostage

Wed Jun 14, 2017 |  23H: 33 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Natalie Duval and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Djibouti

Gunmen were holding at least 20 people hostage in a restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday, police said, after a suicide bomber rammed a car next door and militants stormed inside in an attack claimed by Islamist al Shabaab militants.

Police cordoned off the whole district surrounding Mogadishu's Pizza House, which is adjacent to the Posh Hotel where the suicide bomber attacked first, witnesses said. Posh Hotel is the only venue with a discotheque in the capital.

"The fighters are still inside Pizza House and they hold inside over 20 people. We do not know how many of those are dead or alive," Ibrahim Hussein, a police major, told us at Reuters.

Earlier on Wednesday, police said nine people, mostly women who were hotel staff, had died in the attack.

Security officials said the suicide attacker had rammed the explosive-laden car into the hotel's entrance before gunmen stormed the restaurant.

"A suspected car bomb is also parked in front of Pizza House. This and snipers have made it difficult for the security forces to head inside,’ said Hussein.

Other officials said victims inside the hotel had been safely evacuated but that there were likely to be more than nine casualties.

Al Shabaab claimed responsibility. The group has carried out a campaign of suicide bombings in its bid to topple the Somali government and impose its strict interpretation of Islam.

"A mujahid (fighter) with his suicide car bomb martyred himself after he rammed into the Posh Hotel, which is a nightclub. The operation goes on," Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's military spokesman, told Reuters.

Since losing large swathes of territory to African Union peacekeepers supporting the government, the group has frequently launched raids and deadly attacks in Mogadishu and other regions controlled by the federal government.

The Horn of Africa country has been racked by armed conflict since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other.