Somalia bomb attacks toll rises to 15

Somalian President Hassan Sheik Mohamud has decried a twin bomb attack which has left 15 people dead as an act of desperation.

A man walks in front of a destroyed car
Nine people, including two journalists, have been killed in twin bombings in central Somali. (AAP)

The toll from a twin bomb attack in central Somalia has risen to 15.

The Horn of Africa nation's president, Hassan Sheik Mohamud, has decried the attack as an act of desperation.

Friday's blast was the latest in a string of attacks. A suicide bomber detonate his explosives among a crowd of people drinking at a busy teashop in the town of Baidoa.

A second explosion erupted as rescuers went to help the wounded.

Those killed included two journalists, colleagues said on Friday.

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"The suicide blast which targeted innocent civilians demonstrates solely the desperateness of the violent elements whose agenda is to derail the tranquillity and development of this society," Mohamud said on Saturday.

The attack came a day after a new federal regional leader took power in Baidoa, about 250 kilometres northwest of the capital Mogadishu.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Somalia's al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels have previously carried out repeated attacks in the town as part of their fight to overthrow the country's internationally-backed government.

Recent Shebab attacks in Somalia have targeted key government and security sites in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities and African Union troops that they are winning the war.

On Thursday they wounded an MP and killed a former MP in Mogadishu, while on Wednesday a Shebab suicide bomber killed four when he rammed a car packed with explosives into a United Nations convoy.


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