MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - One person died and another was injured when two car bombs exploded Saturday in the heart of the Somali capital. The Islamist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The bombs detonated in two different cars near a main road in the center of the city. Al-Shabab frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and other parts of the Horn of Africa country.

"Two people were injured in the two car bombs. One of them died of the wounds," said Major Mohamed Hussein, a police officer.

Al-Shabab told Reuters that its members had planted the car bombs and that they were targeting a police official but that he had escaped.

Another police officer, Ahmed Nur, said one of the cars was parked and had nobody in it, while the second was moving and the two people inside it were the two victims.

On Friday, at least three people were killed in separate attacks in Mogadishu, including a female university student shot dead in her class by two men armed with pistols.

Al-Shabab is fighting to topple Somalia's Western-backed central government and establish its own rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic law.

The group also wants to drive African Union-mandated AMISOM peacekeepers out of the country.