MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News)-At least five people have been killed and nine others were injured after a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) went off near a security checkpoint on Thursday.
Witnesses said the vehicle loaded with explosives was detonated at a checkpoint close to the national theatre building.
“The explosion was very heavy, and we could see the smoke and dust overwhelmed the whole area, it was a car bomb,” a witness Ibrahim Farey told AFP.
Capt. Mohamed Hussein who spoke to the news agencies said that a car exploded by the rear entrance of the hilltop presidential palace and appeared to have been targeting security forces stationed at a nearby security checkpoint.
He said 9 people have also been injured. He said the car appeared to have been parked and was detonated remotely, adding that security forces arrested a man suspected to have been the driver of the car.
Al-Shabaab claimed the responsibility of the attack their “fighters targeted one of the checkpoints of the palace apostates.”
Last week, over people, mostly civilians were killed and over 40 wounded after a bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the Hotel Maka al-Mukarama and nearby buildings in Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab was forced out of Mogadishu in 2011 by Somali forces back by troops from the African Union Mission In Somalia (AMISOM).
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