Somalia car bomb

A suicide bomber in Somalia killed some 11 people and injured dozens more on Wednesday after detonating a car laden with explosives. The car was parked near the Muna hotel in the heart of the capital Mogadishu's government quarter.

"Some people say the death toll is 15, but I have confirmed 11 civilians dead, a legislator was also slightly injured," said police spokesman Abdullahi Barise.

The al-Qaeda linked Islamist militant group, al-Shabab, have claimed responsibility for the attack. "We were behind the explosion at the Muna Hotel," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for al-Shabab's military operations, told Reuters. "We targeted legislators and government officials."

The same hotel was the scene of a separate attack in August 2010 when 32 people, including six members of parliament, were killed by two al-Shabab gunmen wearing government security uniforms.

While al-Shabab largely pulled its forces out of Mogadishu last year, the militants frequently carry out roadside and suicide bombings in the capital.

The attack place just hours after the European Union Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, Alexander Rondos, visited the city to meet with officials at the presidential palace. It also comes two weeks ahead of a conference in London designed to tackle instability in Somalia and piracy off its shores.

ccp/mz (AFP, AP, Reuters)