AFP

Four people were killed and nine wounded when a car bomb exploded near a restaurant in central Mogadishu on Thursday, police said, as the Al-Shabaab extremist group claimed responsibility.

The blast “was caused by a car loaded with explosives, we perceive that it was parked near a restaurant along the road,” Somali police official Ibrahim Mohamed told AFP.

The restaurant was near a security checkpoint in the Somali capital, not far from the presidential palace.

The road in which the blast occurred houses eateries and tea shops.

“The explosion was very heavy, and we could see the smoke and dust overwhelmed the whole area, it was a car bomb,” said witness Ibrahim Farey.