Summary A suicide bomber in a car was reported to have driven into the security officials’ vehicle.
MOGADISHU (AFP) - At least eight people were killed Monday by a car bomb in central Mogadishu in one of the bloodiest attacks in the war-ravaged capital in recent months, police said.
Security sources added that a top intelligence official was the target of the attack, and that he was wounded in the blast, although there was no immediate official confirmation.
Police official Mohamed Duale said: "We ve counted at least eight dead so far. It was a car bomb attack near the National Theatre."
A suicide bomber in a car laden with explosives war reported to have driven into the vehicle carrying security officials.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents have launched a series of guerrilla-style attacks in Mogadishu.
"Many have been killed, some of them were in a minibus that was hit by the blast," said Hassan Salad, who witnessed Monday s attack. "This is a disaster, there is smoke and dead bodies thrown all around."
The insurgents have vowed to topple President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office last year after being chosen by the country s new parliament.
While the Shebab in recent months have been on the back foot in Somalia, having lost a string of key towns to a 17,000-strong African Union force fighting alongside Somali soldiers, they remain a potent threat.
Large rural areas remain under their control and they have carried out a series of guerrilla attacks in areas supposed to be under government control.
On Sunday the Shebab retook the southern town of Hudur -- the capital of Bakool region, after Ethiopian troops pulled out of the town.
The recapture of Hudur marks a sharp turnaround for the Shebab as the first territorial victory for several months.
Mogadishu has been rocked by several small attacks -- including both car bombs and suicide attackers, in recent months.
Monday s attack is the worst in the city since September, when two suicide bombers killed 18 people in a restaurant.
Somalia has been ravaged by conflict since 1991 but a new UN-backed government took power in September, ending eight years of transitional rule by a corruption-riddled administration.
Many have said the new government offers the most serious hope for stability since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
