Two wounded in Mogadishu police compound car bombing

Feb 17, 2012, 14:35 GMT

Mogadishu - A car bomb exploded in a police compound in Mogadishu on Friday, wounding two officers, a government official said.

The official said attackers believed to be from Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab targeted a compound near the strategic KM4 junction in the Somali capital.

'Police had captured four men and a car, which was parked in the police compound when it exploded,' senior police officer Said Dahir told dpa.

'We believe one of the men used a mobile or remote trigger to set off the bomb as they were being interrogated,' he added.

Earlier reports had suggested civilians and soldiers were killed in the blast, but Dahir said there were only two injuries.

Al-Shabaab has stepped up its campaign of suicide attacks since it pulled its forces out of Mogadishu in August under pressure from African Union (AU) peacekeepers backing the government.

In recent weeks the AU force, known as AMISOM, has taken the fight outside the capital for the first time.

UNHCR, the UN agency for refugees, said more than 7,200 Somalis escaping famine, who had set up temporary camps in Afgoye, just outside Mogadishu, were forced to flee this week because of the fighting.

The insurgents have been battling to oust the internationally backed government since 2007.

The conflict and drought have displaced an estimated 1.3 million people within Somalia and forced more than 900,000 to flee the country, UNHCR said.