A suicide car bomb has exploded in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 12 people near the security service headquarters.
The bomber targeted a security vehicle. Three members of the security forces were among the dead, witnesses say.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group has been waging an insurgency in Somalia to overthrow the UN-backed government.
It has not commented on the bombing, but correspondents say it bore the hallmarks of the group.
"A suicide car bomb targeted a national security car passing along these tea shops," police officials Abdullahi Hassan told Reuters news agency.
He added that several civilians had been killed.
There has been an increase in violence in Mogadishu in recent weeks, including night-time mortar raids and daytime clashes between the security forces and al-Shabab.
Last week, the group carried out a car-bomb attack outside the presidential palace in Mogadishu, killing officials and guards.
Al-Shabab was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 but it still controls many smaller towns and rural areas of the country and stages periodic attacks in Mogadishu.
Some 22,000 African Union troops are helping the government battle al-Shabab.
Source: BBC
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