Suicide car bomb goes off near Somalia's parliament

MOGADISHU (REUTERS) - A suicide car bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint near Somalia's parliament and interior ministry in the capital Mogadishu on Sunday (March 25), and the city's ambulance service said three people had been killed.

Nur Mohamed, a Mogadishu police officer, told Reuters the bomb went off at the heavily guarded Sayidka checkpoint.

Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin ambulances, the city's sole rescue service, said three people had been killed, excluding the bomber, and one injured.

A Reuters photographer at the scene saw ruined cars and three-wheeled scooters overturned by the force of the blast.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militant group frequently carries out bombings and other attacks in Mogadishu in a campaign to topple Somalia's Western-backed federal government.

At least 14 people were killed on Thursday when al Shabaab set off a bomb outside a busy Mogadishu hotel.

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