At least eight soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded after a suicide bomber detonated a car with explosives on Saturday.
Soldiers opened fire after the blast sent clouds of smoke into the air, said Halima Abdisalan, a mother of three who lives near the area.
“We were walking indoors in fear,” she told Reuters news agency. “Soon I could see and feel a military pickup with a lot of soldiers covered in blood. I don’t know if they were all dead or wounded.”
Captain Mohamed Hussein said the death toll is expected to increase.
Ahmed Muse, a police colonel, told the Associated Press news agency that the bomber struck lower Brigade base on April 12 at the newly opened sports stadium in Mogadishu’s Warta-Nabadda district.
Witnesses said ambulance sirens could be heard as police closed the scene. Enormous clouds of smoke billowed from the scene of the explosion.
Army Officer Major Abdullahi Mohamud said it was an attack. “It must be a suicide car bomb. I am transporting victims now,” he said.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Demanding responsibility, said the group’s military operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, “We conducted a successful martyrdom operation on a major apostate military base in Mogadishu.”
“The enemy had destroyed many casualties and wounded, military vehicles.”
Decades of deadly violence
For more than 10 years, al-Shabab has been fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally recognized government.
The armed group used to control most parts of the country, but since 2011 its fighters have been from most major cities and towns, including Mogadishu, sent by Somali soldiers supported by African Union troops.
However, it has continued to carry out deadly suicide bombings and killers in the capital and its surrounding areas.
Last month, Somalia’s military chief escaped unharmed when a suicide bomber drove al-Shabab with a bomb-laden car into his convoy in Mogadishu.
Somalia has been plagued by deadly violence since 1991, when clan-strong people overthrew leader Siad Barre and then attacked each other.
Since 2008, al-Shabab has been trying to overthrow the internationally recognized central government and establish its rule based on its own interpretation of Islamic law.
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