MOGADISHU—A suicide car bomb struck a local government office in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Sunday, Sep. 2, police said, destroying the building and a school opposite.
![Police said a suicide car bomb targeted a government office on Sunday, Sep. 2. in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Google maps)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2FScreen-Shot-2018-09-02-at-11.37.03-600x335.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Ambulances took casualties to hospitals as people searched through the rubble for survivors, a Reuters witness said. The blast also blew off the roof of a mosque and damaged houses nearby.
![Emergency services work at the site of a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia, September 2, 2018 in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Munasar Mohamed/via Reuters)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2F2018-09-02T091156Z_1_LYNXNPEE8109V_RTROPTP_4_SOMALIA-SECURITY-600x338.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
“A suicide car bomb (rammed) into the district office of Hawlwadag in Mogadishu. It is too early to know casualties,” Abdullahi Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters.
![People look at debris at the site of a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia, September 2, 2018 in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Munasar Mohamed/via Reuters)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2F2018-09-02T091156Z_1_LYNXNPEE8109U_RTROPTP_4_SOMALIA-SECURITY-600x338.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
A Reuters journalist on the scene saw a human hand and blood stains in the rubble.
![Smoke rises from the site of a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia, September 2, 2018 in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Munasar Mohamed/via Reuters)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2F2018-09-02T091156Z_1_LYNXNPEE8109R_RTROPTP_4_SOMALIA-SECURITY-600x338.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Somalia has been convulsed by lawlessness and violence since 1991. Islamist group Al Shabaab is fighting to dislodge a Western-backed government protected by African Union-mandated peacekeepers.