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A vehicle loaded with explosives crashed into cars and vans at a checkpoint leading to the entrance to the presidential palace in Somalia, killing at least eight and wounding nine. This was reported by a spokesman for the police, Abdifatah Adam. The checkpoint targeted is the one used by the Somali president and premier on the way to and from the airport of Mogadishu, the capital. The extremist al-Shabab group, linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack. Witnesses quoted by Xinhua reported that security forces were deployed at the scene of the explosion. “It was a powerful explosion that destroyed several cars,” said a witness, Ahmed Ali.