A large explosion in Somalia’s capital has killed at least nine people and injured eight others, a health official said.

Dr Mohamed Nur said nine were declared dead at Medina Hospital in Mogadishu where he works.

“I am sure the number is bigger as some of the victims were rushed to other hospitals, such as the privately owned ones,” he added.

The al-Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility.

A Somali police spokesman said Mogadishu’s police commissioner, Colonel Farhan Mohamud Qaroleh, was the target of the attack but he was safe.

“A suicide car bomber with heavy explosives plotted by the terrorist group al-Shabab has targeted the Mogadishu police commissioner,” spokesman Sadiq Adam Ali said.

“They hit the vehicle of the Mogadishu police commissioner.”

It was the second large explosion in the city this month. A blast targeting a tea shop killed at least 10 people last week.

Last month, a suicide bomb attack at a military base in Mogadishu killed at least 15 people.