</s>MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Somali police officer says a suicide car bomber has killed at least six people and injured five others at a police station in the Somalia capital.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein said the attack early Sunday targeted a police station near the Mogadishu port and largely destroyed the building and others nearby.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the second blast in the seaside capital in two days.

A suspected suicide car bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint near Mogadishu on Saturday when soldiers stopped him for security checks.

Despite being ousted from most of its key strongholds in Somalia, the Islamic extremist group, al-Shabab, still launches deadly attacks across large parts of south and central Somalia.</s>A suicide truck bomb hit the entrance of Somalia’s biggest port on Sunday, killing at least 29 people, police said, an attack claimed by Islamist al Shabaab militants.

The fighters said they were trying to disrupt protracted parliamentary elections - part of efforts to rebuild the fractured nation after decades of war. The three-month vote is due to end on December 29th.

Gunfire rang out after the blast at Mogadishu Port, Mohamed Hussein, a worker there, told Reuters. Two others said work had been halted and staff sent home.

The bodies of victims lay strewn outside the capital’s terminal in a street filled with rubble from damaged tea shops.

“At least 29 civilians died and 50 others have been injured in the blast. We believe it was a suicide truck bomb,” police officer Colonel Abdikadir Farah told Reuters.

Al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters the blast was aimed at police officers stationed close to the port.

“We killed 30 security forces and injured 50. We targeted them because they had been trained to provide security at so-called elections,’ he said.

Al Shabaab’s insurgency aims to drive out African Union peacekeepers, topple Somalia’s western-backed government and impose its strict version of Islam on the Horn of Africa state.

Around 14,000 people representing Somalia’s federal states have been chosen to pick the 275 lawmakers. Those members of parliament will choose a new president.

The government, UN officials and international donors have said security issues prevented a broader vote.

Al Shabaab accuses the presidential and parliamentary candidates of being foreign stooges.</s>MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A suicide car bomber killed at least 16 people and injured nine others at a police station in the Somalia capital, a Somali police official said Sunday.

The attack early Sunday targeted a police station adjacent to Mogadishu port, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein.

At the blast scene, medical workers carried bodies burned beyond recognition to ambulances. Human limbs and bloodied shoes were scattered across the blast scene.

Most of the victims are port workers and police officers.

Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, Al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack, the second blast in the seaside capital in two days. The insurgents said they had killed "apostates" in the attack, according to the group's Andalus radio.

On Saturday, a suspected suicide car bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint near Mogadishu when soldiers stopped him for security checks.

Despite being ousted from most of its key strongholds in Somalia, al-Shabab still launches deadly attacks across large parts of south and central Somalia.</s>Mogadishu (AFP) - At least 16 people died early Sunday in a suicide truck bombing outside the busy sea port of the Somali capital Mogadishu, the director of the ambulance service said.

"We assisted 48 wounded people and carried 16 others who were killed in the blast," said Abdikadir Abdirahman Adem, director of Mogadishu's AMIN ambulance service.

Mogadishu residents described a huge blast that could be heard across the city and a plume of smoke that rose above the skyline.

A spokesman for the city adminstration, Abdifatah Omar Halane, confirmed the blast but gave a lower toll of "nearly 10" killed. He said investigations were underway.

The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility in a statement distributed on its Telegram messaging account.

It said the target was a military base close to the port and claimed to have killed "nearly 30". The group frequently exaggerates the number killed in its attacks.

The Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government of Somalia and regularly stages deadly attacks on government, military and civilian targets in the capital and elsewhere in the war-torn country.

The attack took place close to the entrance to Mogadishu's port.

"The bomber targeted a civilian area, there were porters and other small scale traders in the area when the blast occurred," said Ibrahim Mohamed, a senior police officer.

The attack comes as Somalia is in the process of electing a new government with the much-delayed presidential vote due on December 28.</s>More than 20 people were killed Sunday in a suicide truck bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said, in a fresh strike claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group.

"The tally we have made so far indicates that more than 20 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the blast," said Ibrahim Mohamed, a Somali police commander.

He said the toll might rise further as the injured and dead had been taken to different hospitals around the city.

It was unclear how many people had been in the vicinity of the blast.

"The bomber targeted a civilian area. There were porters and other small-scale traders in the area when the blast occurred," said Mohamed.

Mogadishu residents described hearing a huge blast outside the city's busy seaport, seeing a plume of smoke that rose above the skyline.

A spokesman for the city administration, Abdifatah Omar Halane, said investigations were under way.

It said the target was a military base close to the port and claimed to have killed "nearly 30".

The Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government of Somalia and regularly stages deadly attacks on government, military and civilian targets in the capital and elsewhere in the war-torn country.

Sunday's attack took place close to the entrance to city port and was large even by Mogadishu's standards.

"I have never witnessed such a blast which caused so much devastation," said local resident Abdukarim Osman.

The attack comes as Somalia is in the process of electing a new government with the much-delayed presidential vote due on December 28.</s>MOGADISHU, Somalia — A suicide car bomber killed at least 16 people and injured nine others at a police station in the Somalia capital, a Somali police official said Sunday.

At the blast scene, medical workers carried bodies burned beyond recognition to ambulances. Human limbs and bloodied shoes were scattered across the blast scene.

Most of the victims are port workers and police officers.

Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack, the second blast in the seaside capital in two days. The insurgents said they had killed "apostates" in the attack, according to the group's Andalus radio.

On Saturday, a suspected suicide car bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint near Mogadishu when soldiers stopped him for security checks.

Despite being ousted from most of its key strongholds in south and central Somalia, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks against the Somali government and African Union forces across large parts of the horn of Africa nation.

More than 22,000 peacekeepers are deployed in Somalia in the multi-national African Union force. Al-Shabab opposes the presence of the foreign troops.

A surge in attacks by al-Shabab could lead to further delays in the country's presidential elections, which have been set for Dec. 28.

The elections have already been delayed three times.
A suicide bomber kills at least 29 people and injures 50 others in an attack on a police station near Mogadishu's port.