Suspected car bomb strikes near market in Somali capital - police

A suspected car bomb killed at least three people when it exploded at a police checkpoint next to a market in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday, police and witnesses said.

"The blast scene was at a police checkpoint near the vegetable market in Waberi district," Major Mohamed Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters, adding that the dead included police and civilian casualties. He said 10 more people were wounded.

The Somali Islamist group al Shabaab often carries out such attacks in the capital, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the group which wants to topple the Western-backed government and impose its strict interpretation of Islam.