Explosion at Mogadishu hotel

mogadishu - By the explosion of a car bomb at a hotel on a busy street in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday at least eight people were killed and seven injured. The number of victims may rise, said a spokesman for the ambulance service.

The hotel Wehliye withstood the blast virtually unscathed, but a nearby house was severely damaged.

A few hours earlier, a minibus exploded at a police checkpoint in Mogadishu. Agents took the vehicle under fire when the driver braked. He was killed.

The radical Islamist movement Al-Shabaab has regular attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia under the control of the federal government.