Mogadishu, Mar 7 (IANS): At least five people were killed and three injured in a car bomb attack claimed by Al-Shabaab militant group in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday, the police said.
The explosion struck the city centre near a security checkpoint that protects the country's Presidential Palace and the National Theatre, said police officer Abdelrahman Bidar who was present at the site of the attack.
"We heard a loud explosion this morning around the National Theatre near the Presidential Palace that was followed by clouds of smoke and heavy gunfire," a witness was cited as saying by Efe news.
Presidential security forces intervened and locked down the blast area which the Al Shabab militants had previously attacked on December 22. That attack had killed at least 12 people, among them a local journalist.