A suicide vehicle bomb was detonated close to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) base near the airport, police told Reuters.
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Security sources say attackers did not breach the perimeter of the airport which partially hosts the main Headquarters of the AU as well as foreign embassies.
There were no immediate details of casualties, the force added.
The twin suicide bombings occurred near the African Union peacekeeping base, by the Mogadishu airport.
They had tried to breach the security compound wall housing United Nations and African Union peacekeepers near the airport, but were stopped at a checkpoint on the road leading to the base.
The Somali government, with the help of African Union forces, is fighting al-Shabab militants in several parts of the country. “Others were looking for somewhere to hide from the flying bullets over our heads”, witness Mustafa Ali said.
Capt Hussein said a second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu.
Unlike previous attacks by the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, gunmen did not accompany the suicide bomber, said police Capt.
The U.S. Mission to Somalia expressed “outrage” at the terror act, and called it “yet another demonstration of al-Shabaab’s brutality in its efforts to destabilize Somalia”.
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The country in the Horn of Africa was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. These attacks must be stopped #Somalia.
