Car Bomb by Islamist Militants Kills Nine in Somalia Capital

(Bloomberg) -- Al-Qaeda-linked militants claimed responsibility for a car-bombing outside a busy shopping center in Somalia’s capital that police said killed at least nine people.

The al-Shabaab militant group commented on Monday’s attack in a statement to Radio Andalus, a broadcaster that supports its insurgency. The death toll in the blast may rise, police officer Mumin Ahmed said by phone.

Formed in civil war-torn Somalia in about 2006, al-Shabaab is battling to enforce its version of Islamic law across the Horn of Africa country. While it was forced out of Mogadishu in 2011 by an African Union force, it continues to stage attacks, both at home and in neighboring Kenya.

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