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At least 90 people are believed to have died in a huge suicide bomb blast in Somalia.

A car bomb in the capital Mogadishu unleashed the devastation, with a number of students and two Turkish nationals among the dead.

Captain Mohamed Hussein said a tax collection centre was the target of the bombing.

Witnesses claimed that a small team of Turkish engineers were at the scene at the time of the blast building a road from the checkpoint into the city.

They said a car belonging to the engineers was destroyed instantly in the blast.

(Image: SAID YUSUF WARSAME/EPA-EFE/REX)

A spokesman for an international organisation which works in Somalia said the death toll was more than 90.

Among those targeted in the blast were students on their way to school, witnesses say.

The blast happened at the Ex-Control checkpoint and was timed to cause maximum chaos in the middle of the morning rush hour.

Ibrahim Mohamed, a police officer at the site of the blast, said: "I would possibly verify more than 20 civilians killed, there were many additional wounded, then again the toll may well be higher."

Another police officer Ahmed Bashir who witnessed the bombing told Garowe Online: "A suicide bomber drove the rigged car into a security checkpoint at the highway road leading to Afgoye town."

(Image: REUTERS)

Ambulance sirens could be heard screaming to the site of the bombing, while soldiers at the nearby checkpoint fired their weapons into the air to disperse the crowds.

Witnesses have described being thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion, which left many nearby buildings badly damaged.

Abdirizak Mohamed, a Somali member of parliament, tweeted: "I was informed the death toll stands over 90 including 17 Somali police officers, 73 civilians and four foreign nationals. May Allah have mercy on the victims of this barbaric attack."

(Image: REUTERS)

A witness told VOA Somalia he saw blood and pieces of bodies scattered across the street.

"It's hard to quantify, but many people died," he said.

Abdikadir Abdirahman Haji Aden, founder of Aamin ambulances, said dozens of people were also wounded.

No one has yet claimed responsibility and the full casualty numbers are still unknown.

(Image: SAID YUSUF WARSAME/EPA-EFE/REX)

The attack on Saturday comes as Somali forces backed by African Union troops continue a major offensive to recapture areas controlled by the terror group Al-Shabaab.

They have been engaged in a civil war since 2007 to topple Somalia's fragile government, which is backed by the United Nations and African Union troops.

The Al Qaeda-linked group were forced out of Mogadishu several years ago, but continue to target high-profile areas such as checkpoints and hotels in the city.

(Image: REUTERS)

In 1991, warlords overthrew the country's dictator Siad Barre, unleashing decades of chaos.

The most deadly attack ever blamed on the group was in October 2017.

A bomb-laden truck exploded next to a fuel tanker in Mogadishu, creating a devastating firestorm that killed nearly 600 people.

On Monday, Al-Shabaab gunmen killed seven Somali soldiers in an attack on a military base in the southwestern Bay region.

(Image: REUTERS)

Saturday's attack - if claimed by Al-Shabaab - would mark a much higher death toll than their usual attacks.

Sometimes, Al-Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for attacks, particularly if they trigger a huge public backlash.

One such attack was in 2009 when a suicide bomber targeted a medical students' graduation ceremony

This latest attack raises concerns about how ready Somalia's forces are to take over responsibility for the country's security in the coming months from African Union troops.