Somalia: 25 killed, several injured in suicide blast in Mogadishu

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Mogadishu: At least 25 people were killed and several others injured in a suicide blast that hit at a security checkpoint near a busy crossing on the outskirts of the Somalian capital of Mogadishu, an official said.

Government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar Omar told Xinhua news agency that a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the checkpoint on Afgoye road. "I can confirm more than 25 people were killed in the attack," Omar said, adding that among the dead were several students. A police officer at the scene said the blast was targeted at a tax office on the road. "As officials were checking cars passing the road, a car suddenly exploded, causing casualties and damage."

There is no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

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Mogadishu has witnessed repeated attacks from Al Shabab, a militant organization that pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2012 and controls parts of central and southern Somalia, said Efe news.

It fights for establishing an Islamic state following the `Wahabi` (an ultra-conservative) ideology of Islamic puritanism.