At least nine people have been killed by a car bomb attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a government official said.

“We heard a huge explosion in Wadajir district, there are some casualties,” Abifutah Omar Halane, the spokesman for Mogadishu’s mayor, said.

A column of white smoke was seen above the capital and some houses were rattled by the blast, DPA news agency reported. Al-Shabaab said they were behind the blast.

“It’s a suicide car bomb in Wadajir District building in which Somali officials and their staff stay. There are government and their staff who have died at the scene. We will tell you the number of dead later,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab spokesman for military operations, said.

Al-Shabab was forced out of the capital and other major urban areas in Somalia by national and African Union multinational forces, but it continues to carry out deadly bombings and attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere.