Two people were killed when a car bomb exploded near the Somali parliament building in Mogadishu yesterday.

Soldiers guarding the building prevented it from reaching its target but two soldiers were killed and four wounded.

Al Shabaab Islamist militants, who threatened to step up attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, said they were behind it. The bombing comes just days after the militants killed a Somali politician and his bodyguard near the presidential palace, considered one of the safest places in Mogadishu