A powerful blast, likely a auto bomb, was heard late Monday near the heavily guarded Villa Somalia which houses the presidential palace and the prime minister’s office in Mogadishu, a police officer said.
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“There were casualties but we are still investigating”, Ali Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab have frequently used vehicle bombs driven by suicide bombers to break into a complex or a building, with more attackers following on foot.
“Three foreigners were also killed in the attack”, he said.
He said it exploded near the checkpoint at the entrance to Villa Somalia.
Several senior government officials, including the president, live and work there.
Sources told Xinhua that the explosion took place after a conference debating the nature of the Horn of Africa nation’s election in 2016 had just ended.
Presidential guards and a Turkish national are believed to be among the dead, as most delegates had left.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab often carries out such attacks.
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Huge smoke could be seen billowing over the scene of the blast and soldiers fired into the air to disperse the crowd who gathered around, according to witness Abdirahman Mohamed, who lives near the presidential palace.
