Seven killed in attack in Somalia

At least seven people have been killed in an explosion in Garowe, the capital of Puntland in northeastern Somalia, International news agency Al Jazeera reports.

Police sources have cited an even higher death toll to Reuters news agency, saying that at least nine people were killed when a car bomb targeted the UN staff in Garowe, in the autonomous Puntland region on Monday. Reports suggest that four of the victims were foreign nationals and that the bomb was apparently planted under a seat and detonated by remote control.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but photos have already started circulating on social media websites showing several bodies in the torn-up UN bus, which saw its roof torn off by the explosion.

Al Jazeera reports that bomb attacks are not common in the northern parts of Somalia, unlike in the south where armed group al-Shabab is waging a deadly war against the Somali government and the African Union forces bolstering it.