At least two people were killed and a number of others injured in a car bomb explosion in the Somali capital Mogadishu, medical officials and witnesses said on Tuesday.

The car bomb parked at the busy K4 junction in the capital near a police station went off, killing two people including a police officer and the suspected attack. Some passers-by were injured. "We have seen two dead bodies so far and we ferried a number of injured people to the hospitals," Ali Muse, a local emergency officer, told Xinhua.

Witnesses said the car had been parked in the main junction for a number of hours before the police were tipped off about the suspicious vehicle in the area and police cleared people from the vicinity.

A man was held in connection with the car.

The Al-Qaeda linked militant group Al-Shabaab vowed to carry out attacks against the Somali government and African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Mogadishu, after being driven out of the war battered city in August.

Several similar car bombing and suicide attacks have been carried out by the radical group in Mogadishu since their withdrawal following a major offensive against the group.

The rebel group has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack.