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| Somalia: Car bomb explodes near airport in Mogadishu | Somalia: Car bomb explodes near airport in Mogadishu |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| At least six people have died after a car bomb exploded close to the gate of the international airport in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, police say. | At least six people have died after a car bomb exploded close to the gate of the international airport in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, police say. |
| Eyewitnesses told the BBC it was targeting a UN refugee agency convoy. | |
| Most of those who died were passers-by and several UN body guards were wounded in the explosion, the witnesses said. | Most of those who died were passers-by and several UN body guards were wounded in the explosion, the witnesses said. |
| The al-Shabab Islamist group has said it was behind the explosion in one of the most heavily fortified areas in the city - where many embassies are based. | |
| The al-Qaeda-aligned militants were driven out of Mogadishu more than two years ago but continue to launch attacks. | |
| The blast was near a checkpoint at the entrance to the airport complex, the AFP news agency reports. | |
| "A car laden with explosives was remotely exploded in front of a tea shop just outside the airport," police officer Col Abdikadir Ahmed told the Reuters news agency. | "A car laden with explosives was remotely exploded in front of a tea shop just outside the airport," police officer Col Abdikadir Ahmed told the Reuters news agency. |
| Correspondents say there has been a spate of attacks in Mogadishu in the last week, with gunmen targeting Somali army bases in the city, and several artillery shells, fired from about 6km (nearly four miles) away, have landed near the airport. | |
| The airport is also the main base for the African Union force which is based in the country to help the fledgling UN-backed government gain control of the country from al-Shabab. | |
| The insurgent group has lost control of most main cities in the last two and half years, but it still holds sway in smaller towns and rural areas in southern Somalia. |