MOGADISHU: At least five people were killed and ten wounded in Somalia's capital Mogadishu today when a car bomb detonated on a busy road, the security ministry said.
There was no immediate claim of responsiblity but the bombing fits the pattern of Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab Islamists, who have carried out numerous suicide bombings and raids in the capital targeting civilian, government and military targets.
Security ministry spokesman Ahmed Mohamud said five civilians were killed and ten others wounded in the car bomb blast.
"It occurred in front of business shops along the road", he told reporters.
The car was parked along the congested Maka Al-Mukarama road and detonated remotely, security sources told AFP. Witnesses said the blast left the street littered with bodies.
"I saw several dead bodies strewn and vehicles burning.
The blast was very huge," witness Abdukadir Mohamed said.
Shabaab, which has been fighting for the last decade to overthrow successive internationally backed governments in Mogadishu, has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda, both contributors to a 22,000-strong African Union force in the country.