Bomb detonates near Somalia presidential palace, 5 killed
Five people have been killed after a car bomb exploded close to the presidential palace in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, police say.
"So far, we know five soldiers died and over a dozen were wounded," Ali Hussein, a police officer, said on Monday.
The blast took place just after the end of a conference on the country’s upcoming general elections in 2016.
It is not yet clear whether the blast has killed any of the conference attendees.
Witnesses said security forces surrounded the site of the incident and ambulances transferred the injured of the terrorist attack to the hospital.
"Now we see huge smoke coming from the scene. Soldiers surrounded the area and we can only see ambulances rushing in and out," Ahmed Aden, a resident of the area, said.
No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Somali government blames such incidents on the al-Shabab Takfiri terrorist group.
Somalia has been the scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab militants since 2006.
The Takfiri terrorists have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by government forces and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), which is largely made up of troops from Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Kenya.
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