Iran Press/Africa: According to Somali police, the car bomb detonated in Mogadishu city center, causing a huge cloud of smoke to rise above the city, followed by a second explosion nearby.
Somali police official Ahmed Abdi told Reuters: "A suicide car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near the national theatre. We have no casualties details now,"
An eyewitness said a second blast went off near the scene of the first one. The checkpoint is also about 400 meters away from the president's residence
Al-Shabaab, in comments broadcast on its Radio Andalus, claimed responsibility for both blasts and said the second was also a car bomb targeting those who had responded to the first car bomb.
Somalia has in recent years faced an insurgency by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab militant group, and the country has had to deal with famine, as well as well-armed pirates operating in its coastal waters.
While parts of the country are plagued by militant violence, a degree of stability in the capital, Mogadishu, has drawn investment from Somalis at home and abroad. 101/ 211 / 202
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