5 killed in car bomb attack in Somalia's capital

AT least five people were killed late Wednesday in a car bomb blast in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, local officials said.

The attack -- the second in three days in the city -- occurred in the Hamarweyne district on Mogadishu's old port, the official in charge of the neighbourhood, Abdulkadir Mohamed, said.

"Five people, maybe more, were killed in a car bomb attack in front of a cafe," he said.

On Sunday, another car bomb went off on a busy road leading to the government district, killing 13 people.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud blamed that Sunday bombing on Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents who have stepped up guerrilla attacks in the capital after being chased out of key cities by African Union-led troops.

In early October, the Shebab were dislodged from Barawe, the last major port held by the Islamist militia.

Somalia has been without effective central government since the 1991 collapse of an authoritarian regime, which has been followed by a permanent state of civil war involving warlords, criminal gangs and Islamist groups.

AFP