MOGADISHU — Deadly suicide bomb explosion targeting an Italian armored personnel carrier has killed at least two people in Somali capital Mogadishu.
The explosion went off after car laden with explosives hit an armored vehicle carrying Italian soldiers near Ministry of Defense headquarters in the capital, a witness said.
He says two civilian people had been killed and four others were also injured in the bomb explosion.
The victims were taken into hospital.
Somali police officer, Hussein Mohamed, says no Italian soldier was killed or injured in the bomb attack.
“The main target was Italian soldiers on board, but none of them was hurmed in the bomb blast in the capital”, he said.
Monday’s explosion was claimed by Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group through its website.
The group says car laden with explosives targeted Italian army vehicle while travelling through Daynile area in the capital of Mogadishu.
The group was ousted from the capital, Mogadishu, in August 2011, but still has a presence in large areas of southern Somalia and often stages attacks across Somalia.
Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
Al-Shabaab, which is waging an insurgency against the Somali government, has recently suffered several significant blows, losing most of its strongholds in southern and central to Somalia army and and African Union troops.
