Suicide car bomb rattles Somali capital

According to a report, at least 15 people were killed in the blast even as Somali and Kenyan leaders met and agreed to cooperate on military action against insurgents. The blast rattled central Mogadishu and killed at least 14 passers-by and the suicide bomber, said police official Ali Hassan. Six people were wounded and taken to the hospital, he said. The explosion did not damage the ministry building but did tear down a stone wall in front of it. Hundreds of on-lookers gathered to see the demolished car scattered across the road. Several body parts littered the street. "The car bomb blew up among people and cars passing down the street. I don t know if his target was the civilians, but thanks the loss was not so big," said Mohamed Nor Siyaed, an eyewitness. African Union and Somali troops battling al-Shabab militants have mostly pushed the insurgents out of Mogadishu, but al-Shabab has vowed to carry out attacks in the capital. Earlier this month al-Shabab unleashed a suicide blast that killed more than 100 people, many of them students. It was the deadliest bombing in Somalia by al-Shabab. Tuesday s blast came as Kenya s ministers of foreign affairs and defense traveled to Mogadishu to meet with Somalia s president following Kenya s launch of military operations in southern Somalia against al-Shabab militants. The explosion occurred several miles (kilometers) from where those meetings are believed to have taken place.