Suicide bomber kills at least eight in Somali capital

Attack targeting a convoy going into the presidential palace is claimed by the armed group al-Shabab.

A suicide car bomb blast has killed at least eight people at a security checkpoint in the Somali capital near the presidential palace in an attack on Saturday claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group.

The checkpoint falls on the route to the airport in the capital, Mogadishu, used by Somalia’s president and prime minister.

Police spokesman Abdifatah Aden Hassan told reporters at the scene the number of casualties could be higher as some of the dead and wounded were taken away by relatives after the attack targeting a convoy going into the palace.