(Adds al Shabaab claim of responsibility, background) By Feisal Omar MOGADISHU, Oct 15 (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and several wounded when a car bomb planted by Islamist militant group al Shabaab exploded near restaurants on a busy street in the Somali capital on Wednesday. ...

MOGADISHU, Oct 15 (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the Somali capital on Wednesday evening, causing some casualties, a witness said, but it was not clear how many people were injured or killed.

A woman bleeds from the head after being struck by a police officer after residents placed roadblocks on a street to demand faster removal of dead bodies infected with Ebola virus in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone, October 14, 2014. REUTERS/Josephus Olu-Mammah

Preliminary Appeal Somalia Drought and Food insecurity in Somalia – SOM141 Preliminary Appeal Target: US${esc.dollar} 2,797,367 Balance Requested: US${esc.dollar} 2,732,767 Geneva, 14 October 2014 The humanitarian situation in Somalia remains dire with drought alerts being sounded....

FREETOWN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A battalion of 800 Sierra Leone soldiers awaiting deployment as peacekeepers in Somalia has been placed in quarantine after one of its members tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, military officials said on Tuesday. The soldiers were due to relieve the West Afr...

A Somali government soldier holds his position against suspected militants during an attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, August 31, 2014. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

At least six people have been killed by a car bomb in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a police officer has said. Police officer Major Nuur Farah said that several wounded people were taken to hospital after Sunday's blast near a popular hotel and cafe. "Now I see six dead bodies," he said. "W...

Somali forces have called on the people of Barawe to support the government, now that it is back in control of the southern coastal town. The port in the Lower Shebelle region had been a stronghold of the armed group Al Shabab for six years. Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi reports from Barawe in so...

Somali troops backed by African Union forces have launched an assault to retake the al-Shabab stronghold of Barawe, key to the financing of al-Shabab fighters. Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi, embedded with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Barawe, said "some al-Shabab fighters were fle...

The group's fighters have been withdrawing from a number of areas they have controlled in the southern part of Somalia. That is a result of a combined military operation called "Operation Indian Ocean" carried out by government forces and African Union troops more than a month ago. The 22,000-...