MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed and 17 wounded in a car bomb attack claimed by al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab close to the president’s residence in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said on Saturday.A second explosion followed nearby. Al Shabaab, in comments broadcast on its Radio Andalus, claimed responsibility for both blasts and said the second was also a car bomb.
"The death toll has risen to 13 people including civilians and soldiers. Seventeen others were injured. The casualties are from the two blasts," Major Mohamed Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters.
Among those killed were a journalist, two security personnel and a driver working for local station Universal TV, whose car was passing the checkpoint at which the first blast went off, another reporter working for the station said.
"My colleague Awil Dahir Salad died in the blast together with the driver and two security guards. They were killed by the first blast as they drove. May Allah rest their souls," journalist Abdiasis Ibrahim who works for Universal TV, told Reuters.