Somalia car bomb strikes EU convoy, no casualties - police

A suicide car bombing by Islamist group al Shabaab hit a European Union armoured convoy in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Monday, damaging one vehicle but causing no casualties, police and the Islamists said.

Emergency service workers carried a body bag at the blast site. Only the assailant died in the blast, which scattered car debris on the ground, including parts bearing the Italian flag.

Al Shabaab frequently carries out attacks in the Horn of Africa country.

The al Qaeda-affiliated militants want to topple Somalia’s Western-backed central government and impose their own rule based on their strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia law.

The European Union is one of the major sources of funding for the African Union-mandated peace keeping force AMISOM which helps defend Somalia’s central government against the Islamists.