TheCable

At least three people have been killed in a suicide car bomb that struck a United Nations (UN) convoy in Mogadishu, capital of Somali, on Wednesday.

The bomber drove between the convoy and its security escort near the airport in the capital, Mogadishu, police said.

“The U.N. convoy was passing outside the airport. Three people died including a policeman and two Somalis who were bodyguards of the UN,” Ahmed Nur, a senior police officer told Reuters, adding that 10 people were injured.

Shamso Idle, a witness, told AFP that “the explosion was very big and there is smoke all around the area. I can hardly see people lying on the ground, either dead or wounded”.

The United Nations and the British and Italian embassy compounds are based in the nearby area.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, militant group al-Shabab, is reputed for carrying out similar attacks.

The blast comes less than 48 hours after al-Shabab militants killed 36 non-Muslim quarry workers in Kenya near the northern town of Mandera, leading to the sack of interior minister, Joseph Ole Lenku and resignation of David Kimaiyo, the police chief.

In October 2011, a coordinated operation between the Somali military and multinational forces began against the al-Shabab group of insurgents in southern Somalia. The battle against terror in the state is still very active.