MOGADISHU (SD) – At least one person has been killed and three others sustained injuries after a roadside bomb went off in Mogadishu on Saturday evening.

The improvised explosive device (IED) suspected to have been planted near Afrik hotel targeted a bulletproof vehicle passing the area.

It is not yet clear the owner of the targeted vehicle but witnesses at the scene confirmed that the occupants of the vehicle escaped unhurt.

The victims of the blast were said to be civilians near the blast.

The attack comes barely a week after al-Shabaab stormed Afrik Hotel with suicide car bomb before group’s fighters forced their way into the hotel, taking dozens of people hostage.

After close ten hours of fighting with Somali forces, the assailants who were four in number got killed by the security forces.

At least nine people were killed and over 20 others sustained injuries. Among those killed in the attack was a well known army general Mohamed Nur Galal.

The forces also rescued dozens of others including a former State minister for Defense, Yussuf Siyad Indha-ade.