MOGADISHU, 11 July 2021, (TON): At least nine people pronounced dead after a car bomb targeting a top police chief exploded in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

The terrorist attack, second to another explosion targeting a teashop in the city last week which took over ten lives, has since been claimed by The Al-Qaeda group al-Shabab.

Kassim Ali Shire, an eyewitness, shares his personal account of the violent incident.

"Thank God I'm ok, my brother and I were driving here on this road when the suicide car bomb hit at close range, there are lots of casualties. All onboard our vehicle survived, only my brother received injuries."

A doctor at the Medina Hospital told reporters that the toll reflected only the dead and wounded who were taken to the facility in Mogadishu where he works. He said the actual toll was likely higher as victims were rushed to other hospitals, including privately owned ones.

A Somali police spokesman Sadiiq Dudishe said the targeted police commissioner Colonel Farhan Mohamud Qaroleh has been declared safe. The commissioner is unharmed but there are other casualties the attack inflicted.