“Courageous army officers guarding the district headquarter confronted the attacking car-bomb, preventing it from entering the compound,” added the regional spokesman.”
No fewer than three soldiers were among the seven people on Sunday killed in a suicide car bomb in Mogadishu, Somali.
The Mogadishu Regional Administration spokesman, Mr Salah Omar Hassan, said the dead also two children and two adult civilian pedestrians.
“We shall let the media know about the final casualty levels, but this is what we have so far identified,” Mr Hassan said, adding that 14 other people were wounded in the incident.
The car packed with explosives exploded at the Howlwadag, one of the 17 districts of Mogadishu.
It exploded after it hit the perimeter wall of the compound, located in a residential area.
Most impacts were absorbed by a Quran school and a nearby mosque next to the district administrative centre.
“Courageous army officers guarding the district headquarter confronted the attacking car-bomb, preventing it from entering the compound,” added the regional spokesman.
The casualty figures were expected to rise, considering that many houses close to the target compound were severely damaged in the densely populated area.
Soon after the blast, gunshot sounds were heard, an indication that gunmen had attacked the municipal centre in the city centre.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any group, but the Somali government usually blames the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab for such attacks.
The Horn of Africa state, without a stable central authority since 1991, is regularly targeted by the Al-Shabaab militants, intent on overthrowing the government.
-NAN
