Deadly car bomb rocks Somali capital

At least eight people have been killed by a car bomb claimed by al-Shabab in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, police have said.

Monday's attack targeted Khalif Ahmed Ilig, the Mogadishu security chief, in one of the bloodiest assaults in the war-ravaged capital in recent months.

"We've counted at least eight dead so far. It was a car bomb attack near the National Theatre," said police official Mohamed Duale.

Al Jazeera's Peter Greste confirmed local sources had told him the target was the intelligence chief of the district controlling Mogadishu.

Quoting local sources, our correspondent said "at least six or seven - possibly eight - people have died in this explosion".

Hassan Salad, who witnessed the attack, said: "Many have been killed, some of them were in a minibus that was hit by the blast. This is a disaster, there is smoke and dead bodies thrown all around."

Fighters' threat

The anti-government fighters have vowed to topple President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office last year after being chosen by the country's new parliament.

While al-Shabab in recent months has been on the back foot in Somalia, having lost a string of key towns to a 17,000-strong African Union force fighting alongside Somali soldiers, the group remains a potent threat.

Large rural areas remain under its control and the group's fighters have carried out a series of guerrilla attacks in areas supposed to be under government control.

On Sunday al-Shabab retook the southern town of Hudur - the capital of Bakool region - after Ethiopian troops pulled out of the town.

The recapture of Hudur marks a sharp turnaround for al-Shabab as the first territorial victory for several months.
Mogadishu has been rocked by several small attacks - including both car bombs and suicide attackers - in recent months.

The last suicide attack in Mogadishu in September last year killed 18 people in a restaurant.