Al-Shabaab launches first new year attack in Mogadishu, kills 5

At least five people were killed and over ten others injured in a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint near the Lower House building in Mogadishu Wednesday.

Sources at the scene said five people were killed in the mid-morning attack which ripped through a traffic snarl-up at Sayidka  area. The checkpoint oversees vehicles heading towards the Lower House building, Presidential palace and the Ministry of Security Headquarters.

Pictures from the scene show burned vehicles.  The attack comes barely a week after Al-Shabaab which also claimed today’s attack killed 89 people in a truck bomb at the Ex-Control area in the outskirts of Mogadishu.

Today’s attack which hit one of the most secured areas in the city is the first of the year.