Somalia car bomb targets peacekeepers

MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- A suicide car bomber on Tuesday attacked a building in Somalia that houses African Union peacekeepers, reportedly wounding seven people. An Islamist militia claimed responsibility.

Witnesses said the bomb detonated near the gates of a university north of Mogadishu that houses Burundi peacekeepers. The witnesses said they saw several people wounded by the blast.

The Associated Press reported seven people injured in the attack.

Witness Abdullahi Hussein Sabriye told AP he watched the attack from a nearby tea shop.

"A car driving at breakneck speed passed us and within seconds turned around and rammed into a locked gate that is not normally used," Sabriye told AP. "Then we heard a huge explosion whose dust covered us."

Mogadishu police had no comment.

A spokesman for the militia al-Shaabab said it carried out the attack.

Al-Shaabab fighters -- who are seeking to impose Islamic law or "sharia" -- have recently seized control of several towns in Somalia in clashes that have left dozens killed.

Al-Shaabab is an extremist splinter group of the Islamic Courts Union, which seized control of Somalia and its capital two years ago before being deposed in Ethiopia's December 2006 invasion.

The U.S. State Department describes al-Shaabab -- also known as the Mujahedeen Youth Movement -- as "a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with al Qaeda." E-mail to a friend

Journalists Abdulnasir Mohamud and Mohamed Amiin Adow contributed to this report.

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