Mogadishu: A car bomb exploded on the road to the airport in the Somalia Mogadishu capital on Wednesday, killing at least eight people, said the head of the city ambulance service.
Resident Mogadishu Mohamed Osman said the surprise from the explosion hit the wall and roof of the mosque he prayed nearby.
“When I got out of the mosque, I saw some old houses collapsing, the body parts on the road, hands, feet,” Osman told Reuters.
“The car is destroyed, burn tuk tuk (pedicab); all this chaos and lose life in a minute, I survived,” he said.
Not immediately clear who is responsible for the bombing.
Osman said he had seen nine bodies at the scene.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, Director of Aamin Ambulance Service, placed the death toll at the age of eight.
“A car bomb targets a convoy, including an anti-bullet car using the avision road, we don’t have a convoy.
We brought eight people from the scene,” Abdirahman told Reuters.
Previously, a Reuters photographer saw four bodies and four broken cars and two motorbike pedicab while Ahmed Nur, a shopkeeper nearby, said he had seen at least five bodies.
A paramedic was seen attending at least one person who was injured, the photos of Reuters from the scene showed.
In the past, the Al Shabaab group associated with Al Qaeda was responsible for similar attacks.
This group aims to overthrow the central government and impose strict interpretation of Islamic law.
It carries out a gun and a bomb that is often on security and government targets, but also on civilians.
It also carried out an attack on the African Union Peace Guard forces.