Car bomb explosion kills 13 in Mogadishu

The file photo shows people reacting to an attack outside a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on January 25, 2017. (By AFP)

An assailant has detonated an explosives-laden car near a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, leaving at least 13 people dead and several others injured.

The explosion occurred near the Weheliye Hotel on the busy Maka Almukarramah road on Monday, according to police officer Mohamed Hussein. It did not damage the hotel, but destroyed a nearby house.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and it was not clear whether the hotel was the actual target.

In a separate incident in Mogadishu, a minibus exploded after police shot at it because it had failed to heed warnings to stop at a checkpoint.

“A policeman at a checkpoint shot at the speeding minibus. It exploded and killed the al-Shabab fighter that drove it,” said police officer Nur Osman.

The outfit has been carrying out acts of terror in Somalia over the past decade in an attempt to topple the government.

The joint forces of the government and the African Union have managed to push the al-Shabab terrorists out of large parts of southern and central Somalia, but they still manage to carry out attacks across the country.