At least eight people were killed in Mogadishu on Friday when a remotely controlled bomb exploded in a busy restaurant in the Somali capital, police official and witnesses said.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior Somali police commander, said the attack targeted a convoy of doctors and military personnel on the way to give medical assistance to patients at a hospital.

Police said they suspected Al-Shabab, the Al-Qaeda-linked group of planting the bomb, which went off in the notoriously insecure, semi-forested Dayniile district where, police say, Al-Shabab militants often hide.

At least 11 others were injured in the blast.

Al-Shabab did not immediately claim responsibility.

Many members of Al-Shabab were pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 by African Union peacekeeping troops, but over the past year the group has carried out several large-scale attacks on high profile targets, putting a dent in the perceived increase in security in Mogadishu.

"I could see several motionless people lying in the scene," Said Fatuma Hassan, a mother of three who was near the bomb blast. "The whole place was ruined and stained with blood."

Al Jazeera and wire services