MOGADISHU
The militant Al-Shabaab group has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a UN envoy in the Somali capital Mogadishu earlier on Thursday.
In a statement, Al-Shabaab claimed ten people were killed in the attack, including three UN personnel.
But eyewitnesses have earlier told Anadolu Agency that seven people were killed and several others injured when a car-bomb rammed into two UN vehicles outside Mogadishu's international airport.
The charred bodies of some of the victims were extracted from a restaurant devastated by the blast, which also destroyed several vehicles parked nearby, eyewitnesses said.
"The car had been parked near the Mogadishu airport before it targeted a UN convoy in front of the airport," one eyewitness told AA.
The driver of the vehicle had been killed and a number of passersby slightly injured by the blast, which was heard throughout the Somali capital.
African and Somali troops eventually cordoned off the blast site.
The long-troubled Horn of Africa country has remained in the grip of political violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
Recently, the African Union dispatched troops to Somalia with a mandate to combat an ongoing insurgency by Al-Shabaab.
By Nour Geidi
englishnews@aa.com.tr
