Police say Sunday's bombing occured at a busy junction in Mogadishu, when a suicide attacker rammed a car filled with explosives into a government convoy.

At least eight people were killed. One witness said those inside an armored government car are believed to have survived.

"Several people have been killed, the blast was big, we are gathering details but the number of those killed is around 11," police official Mohamed Adan said.

A photographer for the news agency Reuters said he could see three people lying near the wreckage of four burning cars.

"A car bomb hit a convoy of official cars as they passed through the 'Kilometer 4' junction," shopkeeper Ibrahim Hussein told Reuters. The Kilometer 4 neighborhood is Mogadishu's commercial and administrative center. Gunfire is believed to have also rung out through the district.

No group has yet claimed responsibility, but al-Shebab militants linked to al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the past year.

jr/hc (AFP, Reuters)