Five people including two suicide bombers were killed and five others were wounded when two car bombs exploded near Mogadishu’s international airport. A car bomb exploded near the main base of the African Union peacekeeping force, AMISOM. The base is the force’s largest and is located near Aden Adde International Airport.

Somali Police said that the bombers attacked the headquarters of peacekeeping force in Mogadishu and killed at least three Somali security officers.

The extremist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack which occurred near Mogadishu’s main airport, an area where there are several embassies, aid organisations and telecommunications companies.

In a statement that the group made, it said that its fighters carried out two suicide attacks: “The first targeted a check point” at the entrance of the airport in order to “let the second attacker, who was driving a truck, target Hotel Peace”.

A policeman named Mohammed Ahmed said that one bomber drove a car into a checkpoint outside the headquarters of the African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM, killing three Somali officers stationed there.

Another vehicle then drove through towards the base’s main gates but came under fire from peacekeepers.

AMISOM wrote on its Twitter feed that the second vehicle “exploded about 200 metres from the gate. Civilian buildings were damaged”.

The powerful blasts damaged the front of the nearby Hotel Peace, though there were no immediate reports of casualties there. The burned-out shell of one of the wrecked vehicles lay outside the hotel.