Suicide car bomb targets a Somali police camp in Mogadishu

"The vehicle came directly into the police checkpoint and crashed onto the police barricade before detonating, " Hassan Shino, a Somali police officer.

The officer who remained tight-lipped about any police casualties added that the car bomb did not manage to enter the camp where hundreds of Somali police train and lodge.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties as a result of the attack. Witnesses and local media reports say that several people including police officers were taken to hospital while some say a couple of persons died in the blast.

"The explosion was very huge and could be heard for miles around the capital. There was fires all around the scene of the blast. I think the casualties will be enormous," Ali Omar an eyewitness told Press Agencies.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack but Islamist group of al Shabaab which wages deadly insurgent against the Somali government and African Union peacekeeping forces often carried similar attacks in Somalia.

Fierce battles between Islamist group and AU and Somali government forces over the weekend left almost 20 people dead including six foreign fighters as well as two peacekeeping soldiers.

The radical group of Al Shabaab is considered a terrorist entity has previously used suicide car bombers in their attacks against the Somali government and AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu.