A bomb exploded next to a primary school near the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Sunday evening, killing eight people and injuring 13 others, police said.
It was unclear if the explosion was the result of a car bomb or another explosive device that had been attached to a car nearby, one of the victims said.
“Our officers managed to control the remains of the bomb and no serious injuries,” police officer Mohamed Yassin told CNN. “My understanding is that there was not a car bomb… but it was some sort of explosion.”
Yassin, who is from one of the districts near the scene of the explosion, said the explosion occurred near Dina Primary School. He said several Somali police officers were responding to the scene.
Video shot after the explosion showed several metal plates that were left at the site of the explosion. The site of the explosion also had material damage to several cars.
“The bullet-riddled body of a boy and a badly burned girl, who both perished when the bomb exploded next to the school, have been retrieved by rescuers,” Kenya Army Spokesman Col. David Obonyo wrote on Twitter. “Dozens more injured on the scene.”
Saturday’s explosion in Mogadishu was the second bombing since February, when Somali forces dislodged Al-Shabaab from its last strongholds in Somalia.
After seizing control of much of southern and central Somalia in 2007, the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab lost its stronghold in Mogadishu. But the terror group is still active in the country.
It has been blamed for the murder of journalist Antony Kay. The Somali National Union of Journalists and the British High Commission to Somalia have condemned his death, noting that he was the first journalist killed in Somalia since 2010.
Watch the full report on the deaths of the women and children in Somalia:
Aisha Faasha Lame, 7 months, Aisha Nadifa Faasha, 3 years
Anmaity Uthmana, 8 years old
Kulle Abdisalan, 12 years old
Abdi Hassan, 3 years old