mogadishu airport
mogadishu airportwikimedia commons/Axmadyare

At least 13 people, including guards of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the United Nations (UN), were killed when two massive car bombs went off in Mogadishu, on Tuesday. Al Shabaab, a terrorist organisation linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for both the suicide bomb attacks. 

Three civilians were injured in the attack. 

Al Shabaab said that they killed killed "dozens of crusaders & apostates," reported Al Jazeera.

Huge explosions were heard near the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. Reports said that simultaneous suicide attacks, one at the airport entrance and the other at the entrance of the African Union headquarters, rocked the capital of Somalia.

The two car bombs targeted the main AMISOM base near Mogadishu airport. The area also hosts the UN office and embassies.

Our Mujahideen targeted Halane which is base to the foreign forces occupying our Muslim country. We have killed dozens of them," Abdulaziz Abu Muscab, a spokesman for the group, told Al Jazeera.

The Al Shabaab group, which is very active in Somalia, killed dozens of soldiers last month. On June 26, twin suicide bomb attacks killed at least 15 people in the capital. They had laid siege on a hotel. On June 9, the terrorist group attacked an AMISOM base that hosted Ethiopian troops. The security forces were able to fight off the armed Islamist group, but could not prevent loss of life.

The AMISOM includes troops from six African countries and its aim is to fight the terrorist group. However, it has not been able to rein in the jihadists.