Mogadishu blast update: Al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab claims responsibility for deadly truck bomb - BBCAt least 55 people have been killed by a huge suspected suicide blast near a government compound in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, say officials.
Eyewitnesses said a truck carrying explosives was driven into a gate near a government ministry and detonated.
Sheikh Ali Mohamed Rage, a spokesman for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, told the BBC it had carried out the attack.
Dozens of people were also injured in the attack.
BBC Somali's Mohammed Dore, at the scene, said vehicles were on fire, bodies were lying in the street and shocked soldiers were randomly firing into the air.
Our correspondent said it was the worst incident he had ever experienced.
Soldiers were among those killed and injured, as well as students who had been queuing at the main gate to take an exam at the education ministry in order to gain a scholarship to study in Turkey.
'Checkpoint blast'
Members of the UN-backed transitional government were meeting in the building at the time, but it is not yet clear if they were among the casualties.
An official from the African Union, which has peacekeeping troops in Somalia, said the incident was "very serious".
The blast struck outside a compound housing government buildings in the Kilometre Four district.
Police officer Ali Hussein told the Associated Press news agency that the vehicle had exploded after pulling up at a checkpoint on the way into the official compound.
An official with 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.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991 - the weak transitional government and Islamist militias are competing for control of the country.
Al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda, controls large swathes of south and central Somalia.
It retreated from Mogadishu two months ago, but analysts said that without a front line it was likely to begin carrying out more bombings, including suicide attacks.
Last week, al-Shabab tried but failed to seize two towns from pro-government forces near Somalia's border with Kenya.
Somalia's political instability has been compounded in the past year by the worst drought in six decades, which has forced tens of thousands of people to flee to Mogadishu in search of food.
The UN has declared a famine in six regions of Somalia.
The BBC's East Africa correspondent, Will Ross, said the latest attack will not only worry the government but also the aid agencies, who have been taking great risks to get food to the drought victims.
Eyewitnesses said a truck carrying explosives was driven into a gate near a government ministry and detonated.
Sheikh Ali Mohamed Rage, a spokesman for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, told the BBC it had carried out the attack.
Dozens of people were also injured in the attack.
BBC Somali's Mohammed Dore, at the scene, said vehicles were on fire, bodies were lying in the street and shocked soldiers were randomly firing into the air.
Our correspondent said it was the worst incident he had ever experienced.
Soldiers were among those killed and injured, as well as students who had been queuing at the main gate to take an exam at the education ministry in order to gain a scholarship to study in Turkey.
'Checkpoint blast'
Members of the UN-backed transitional government were meeting in the building at the time, but it is not yet clear if they were among the casualties.
An official from the African Union, which has peacekeeping troops in Somalia, said the incident was "very serious".
The blast struck outside a compound housing government buildings in the Kilometre Four district.
Police officer Ali Hussein told the Associated Press news agency that the vehicle had exploded after pulling up at a checkpoint on the way into the official compound.
An official with 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.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991 - the weak transitional government and Islamist militias are competing for control of the country.
Al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda, controls large swathes of south and central Somalia.
It retreated from Mogadishu two months ago, but analysts said that without a front line it was likely to begin carrying out more bombings, including suicide attacks.
Last week, al-Shabab tried but failed to seize two towns from pro-government forces near Somalia's border with Kenya.
Somalia's political instability has been compounded in the past year by the worst drought in six decades, which has forced tens of thousands of people to flee to Mogadishu in search of food.
The UN has declared a famine in six regions of Somalia.
The BBC's East Africa correspondent, Will Ross, said the latest attack will not only worry the government but also the aid agencies, who have been taking great risks to get food to the drought victims.
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