A suicide car bomb aimed at African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital missed its target and killed 14 civilians today.
Islamist insurgents have been battling the country's Western-backed interim government since the start of 2007, and have stepped up attacks since the administration's Ethiopian military allies withdrew from Mogadishu this month.
Abdifatah Shaweye, the city's deputy governor, said policemen stationed near an AU base opened fire on the bomb-laden car as it approached, after which it crashed and blew up. Thirteen civilians and a policeman were killed, he said.
At least 30 people were wounded, doctors said.
Aspokesman for the small AU force AMISIOM said no peacekeepers had been hurt. "That opposition group has massacred only innocent Somali people," Major Barigye Ba-hoku said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Some analysts fear the Ethiopian withdrawal has left a power vacuum that will be exploited by hardline Islamists from the al Shabaab group, which Washington says is linked to al-Qaeda.
The international community is putting pressure on Somali politicians meeting in neighbouring Djibouti this week to form an inclusive government with the main Islamist opposition party and elect a new president next week.