At least, ten people were killed and several others injured in a massive car bomb attack near the presidential palace in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia. Apparently, a car laden with explosives targeted a senior Somali government official, who was traveling in a car near the presidential palace. But a civilian bus traveling in the route came between the government car and the car bomb, when it was hit, police said according to a Reuters report.

The suicide attacker detonated the bomb while driving in a road between the palace and the national theatre.

"The suicide car bomber targeted a senior national security officer whose car was passing near the theatre," senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud told Reuters. "Most of the people who died were on board the minibus - civilians. This public vehicle coincidentally came between the government car and the car bomb when it was hit. Littered in the scene are human hands and flesh."

A journalist who was injured in the blast told the Associated Press that several people sitting in a restaurant near the blast site were injured.

"This is a disaster, there is smoke and dead bodies thrown all around," another witness quoted by the AFP news agency said.

The blast site is close to the Somali government's headquarters.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

The security situation in Mogadishu seemed to have improved after withdrawal of Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabab group from the city, following a military offensive by the African forces and Somali government troops against the rebels in Aug. 2011. However, suicide attacks and assassinations by the militants continue to rock the city.

Suicide bombers killed a civilian at a beach front restaurant in a popular weekend hangout in the Somali capital Mar.1.

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