ALALAM – Africa
The explosion occurred when explosives on a vehicle were detonated by its driver at Mogadishu’s busy sea port on Sunday.
Emergency officials earlier said that at least 48 people were also injured in the terrorist attack.
The al-Shabab terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack. It carried out a bombing attack near Mogdishu on Saturday, killing two people.
The al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group has been conducting terrorist operations in the impoverished African country since 2006.
Although the terrorists have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by the government and troops from the African Union (AU), they continue to carry out incursions into the capital.
Somalia has not had a powerful central government since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled by warlords in 1991. Since 2007, some 22,000 peacekeepers of the multi-national African Union force have been deployed to the country to aid the government in fighting militancy.
Years of instability, violence and famine have left a million people dead and 1.4 million internally displaced in Somalia.
More than 300,000 displaced Somalis have taken refuge in the capital, Press TV reported.
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