Al Shabaab claims responsibility to suicide blast that killed 6

MOGADISHU: At least six people were killed when a suicide car bomb struck a local government office in the city centre yesterday, destroying the building and a Quranic school opposite.

Militant group Al Shabaab said it was behind the attack on Hawlwadag district office, which also blew off the roof of a mosque and damaged houses nearby.

At least six people had been killed, including soldiers, civilians and the suicide bomber, and a dozen injured.

The school was open but at the time of the blast, most children were away from the building on a break. A journalist saw a human hand and blood stains in the rubble as people searched for survivors.

PIC REUTERS A woman reacting near the scene of a blast in the district office of Hawlwadag, Mogadishu, yesterday.