MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed credit for a car bomb that detonated Sunday near the international airport in the capital of Somalia, killing five people, including the bomber.
Black smoke and gunfire emanated from the area following the blast, which targeted Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that security forces were firing weapons to disperse crowds of onlookers.
The bomb exploded in the Waaberi district, close to the international airport near where Western embassies, African Union bases and United Nations personnel are located.
"We conducted an operation against the apostates -- including white mercenaries -- in Mogadishu," Abu Musaab, military-operations spokesperson of al-Shabaab, told Al Jazeera. "There were heavy casualties. We will give more details later."
The attack follows a Dec. 31 announcement by the Pentagon that a U.S. airstrike killed Tahlil Abdishakur, al-Shabaab's intelligence chief. A similar strike killed al-Shabaab leader, Ahmed Godane, in early September.
The U.S. government designated al-Shabaab a terrorist organization in 2008, noting the group's claims of responsibility for a multitude of bombings in Somalia.
