Twin car bombings rock restive Somali capital

A car bomb exploded near Somalia's parliament headquarters in the capital Mogadishu Sunday, killing at least two people along with the driver, police said.

The deadly blast came just hours after another car bomb exploded in the capital's outskirts, killing one person along with the driver.

A huge cloud of smoke could be seen billowing over the site of the bombing near parliament, an area dotted with security checkpoints erected along a road leading to the presidential palace.

The car bomb was detonated at a checkpoint after soldiers intercepted and stopped a suspicious vehicle, senior police Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press.

Those dead included two soldiers, he said, while many of the nearly 10 people wounded are rickshaw drivers.

Twitter Post

Gunfire was heard at the scene following the explosion at Sayidka junction, just metres from the parliament building, various sources have confirmed.

Witnesses reported hearing a "huge" blast, and seeing at least four bodies on the road along with several cars and motorbikes burning and emergency vehicles at the scene.

Officer Mohamed Abdi said that the first explosion of the day occurred after soldiers arrived at the scene to inspect a "suspicious" car, which was stuck on a sandy road in the Sinka Dheer area on the outskirts of Mogadishu, according to AP.

The twin car bombings come just three days after at least 14 people were killed and ten others wounded in a car bomb blast near the Weheliye Hotel on the busy Makka Almukarramah road.

Twitter Post

Mogadishu is often a target of attacks by the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab, often referred to as "the deadliest" Islamist extremist group in Africa.

A truck bombing in October killed 512 people in the country's deadliest-ever attack. Only a few attacks since 9/11 have killed more people.

The Horn of Africa nation continues to struggle to counter group. Concerns have been high over plans to hand over the country's security to Somalia's own forces as a 21,000-strong African Union force begins a withdrawal that is expected to be complete in 2020.

The US military, which has bolstered its efforts against the militant group in the past year with dozens of drone strikes, has said Somali forces are not yet ready to take on the task themselves.