According to the head of the city’s emergency services, a car bomb exploded on a road leading to the airport in Mogadishu on Wednesday, killing at least eight people.
Mohamed Osman, a Mogadishu local, said the blast shattered the walls and ceiling of a mosque where he was worshipping nearby.
Four autos and two rickshaws were damaged in the blast.
A photographer stated that the cause of the explosion was unknown at the time.
At least one injured person was being attended to by a paramedic.
A local shopkeeper, Ahmed Nur, claimed to have seen at least five bodies.
“I see five dead people wrapped in paper bags and covered with iron sheets, legs visible and then being transported in an ambulance,” he said.
The founder of the Aamin ambulance service, Abdulkadir Adan, tweeted that he was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and injuries” in Mogadishu. He posted a photo from the scene of a mangled vehicle.
The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group that controls parts of Somalia often carries out bombings at high-profile locations in the capital.
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(With inputs from agencies)
