A car bomb that exploded outside a military base in the Somali capital on Sunday (April 9) has killed at least 15 people, a military official said.

The death toll could rise as a minibus carrying passengers was destroyed in the blast that targeted senior officials leaving the base in a convoy.

Major Hussein Nur, a military official, told Reuters the exact number of casualties was not known but all the people on board the minibus were killed and soldiers and other private security guards had also died.

The Islamist group al Shabaab, which is carrying out increasingly deadly bombings despite losing most of its territory to the African Union peacekeepers supporting the Somali government, claimed responsibility of the attack.