Explosion in Somalia capital kills eight

A car bomb went off Saturday at a checkpoint near the Somali parliament, killing eight people and injuring 16, medical and police sources said.

“We have confirmed eight people killed and 16 others wounded in the blast,” the private Aamin Ambulance service said.

A second blast on a key road leading to the airport of the Somali capital Mogadishu did not cause any casualties. According to Reuters, Al Shabaab has already claimed responsibility for the two blasts. The militia also claimed a separate incident on Saturday. A roadside bomb hit a vehicle patrolling near Kenya’s border with Somalia, killing several of the 11 police officers onboard, a Kenyan police spokesman said.

The attack was also claimed by Somali Islamist insurgents, who also kidnapped three Kenyan police reservists on Friday (June 14) from the same area in Wajir district in northeast Kenya near the Somali border.