13 or more people have been killed by suicide bombers after they detonated a car packed with explosives in an attack near a major international airport in Somalia.
Islamist terror group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed more than 12 people.
The two attackers targeted the African Union's main peacekeeping base in Somalia's capital, which has witnessed a rise in Islamist attacks in recent years.
The first detonated a car bomb near the gates of the compound, which lies close to the airport, and the second tried to storm the base on foot.
He was shot before he detonated explosives at the gate.
Local police officer Major Nur Osman told Reuters: “AU forces sealed the area. There were many Somalis outside the gate and there were AU forces at the gate - we have not yet confirmed the casualty figure.”
The area surrounding Mogadishu’s airport is designated a secure "green zone" for foreign embassies as well as UN and AU peacekeeping forces.
Eight of the dead were UN staff and three were civlians, with a further five people injured in the blast.
Ambulances have been seen taking those caught up in the attack to local hospitals. People arriving on international flights said the blasts shattered windows in the airport buildings.
Ali Nur, who had just got off a plane from Nairobi, said: “We were greeted by two loud blasts. The glass of the airport building fell on us.”
The African Union's AMISOM force said on Twitter it condemned the "senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis".
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