At least 13 people were killed and over a dozen more wounded by a car bomb in the Somalian capital Mogadishu on Saturday.

Police said the bomber targeted a checkpoint near the president's palace in the city and that a second explosion followed close by shortly afterwards.

The attack — which took place on Saturday, a business day in Somalia — was claimed by Al Shabaab, a group linked to al Qaida.

Witnesses at the scene said the victims included a journalist and security personnel working for a local television station, who were crossing the checkpoint at the time of the first blast.

"My colleague Awil Dahir Salad died in the blast together with the driver and two security guards. They were killed by the first blast as they drove. May Allah rest their souls," journalist Abdiasis Ibrahim who works for Universal TV, told Reuters.

Al Shabaab was forced out of Mogadishu in 2011 but maintains a foothold in other regions of Soamlia.

The group has killed thousands of people in a decade-long insurgency that spread to other parts of East Africa.