Many dead in Mogadishu car bombing

A suicide car bomber in Somalia has killed at least 17 and left dozens more injured in the capital, according to police sources.

Wednesday's blast took place near a hotel in Mogadishu where local politicians are staying.

"So far we have carried nine dead civilians and 34 others injured. Up to now we have not seen casualties of any legislators. The death toll may rise," Hassan Ali, a police officer, told the Reuters news agency.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Ali said the attacker rammed his vehicle into a cafe by the Hotel Muna, previously stormed by al-Shabab fighters in August 2010. That attack killed more than 30 people.

Police and the spokesman for African Union troops in the Horn of Africa nation, said initial reports showed the attacker first opened fire on people sitting near the hotel before detonating the vehicle.

While al-Shabaab pulled its forces out of Mogadishu last year, they launch frequent attacks against the Western-backed

government with suicide bombers, roadside bombs and grenades.

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya, said the attacks come at a time when Mogadishu "is trying to rebuild itself after the al-Shabab withdrawal ... but the attack shows al-Shabab is able to get into the city and carry out attacks of this kind".

A one-day conference in London to tackle the instability in Somalia and piracy off its shores is due to be held in two weeks.

Wednesday also marked the day the European Union's new special envoy to the Horn of Africa visited Mogadishu.

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, visited Mogadishu last week and appointed a new Somalia ambassador, but said Britain would not open an embassy in Mogadishu without security improvement.

In another development, Kenyan defence forces said on Wednesday they had killed 13 al-Shabab fighters in southern Somalia.

Among those dead in Afmadow - a city in southern Somalia described by Kenya "as the command centre for al-Shabab forces" - is a senior al-Shabab commander who the forces say cannot be named.

Aljazeera News