Somalia suicide blast kills 9 in Mogadishu

A suspected suicide bomber has struck near government buildings in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. A BBC correspondent in the city said he had seen at least nine bodies at one government ministry. Unconfirmed local media reports put the number of casualties much higher. A spokesman for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda and controls large swathes of south and central Somalia, said it carried out the attack. The co-ordinator of Mogadishu's ambulance service, Ali Ruse, said 65 bodies had been recovered and at least 50 other people had been injured. "Some are still lying there. Most of the people have burns," he told Reuters news agency. Witnesses said a vehicle had been used to carry out the attack.