Car bomb hits convoy carrying Qataris in Somalia

The visiting delegation of Qataris, who were travelling in the Somali interior minister's bullet-proof vehicle, were "safe", a security officer told Reuters, without going into further detail. The minister was not in the car at the time. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. The blast tore through the busy 'Kilometre 4' road junction in the centre of Mogadishu's commercial and administrative district. Gunfire rang out immediately after the explosion as the convoy's security guards fired into the air to disperse onlookers.
 
Qatar has been forging closer political ties with Somalia in recent years as it seeks to expand its influence in the Horn of Africa region.
 
"The car bomb targeted delegates from Qatar. They are safe," Hassan Osman, a security official, told Reuters, adding that the minister's car was damaged in the blast.
 
The chairman of Mogadishu's Hodan district, where the blast occurred, told reporters at the scene eight people had been killed and five wounded, most of them civilians.
 
Sunday's bomb was a stark reminder of two decades of civil strife in a country where the central government depends heavily on a 17,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force for its survival.
 
The state of Somalia's security forces will top the agenda at conference in London on May 7. Britain and Somalia are hoping to use the event to drum up more international support at a time when al Shabaab are weakened as a fighting force but can still inflict devastating strikes.
 
Civil war after the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 left Somalia without effective central government and awash with weapons. The turmoil opened the doors for piracy to flourish in the Gulf of Aden and deeper into the Indian Ocean.