A convoy of the African Union's AMISOM force was targeted by a car bomb just outside the Somali capital on Monday, witnesses and a Somali army source said, though it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

Contacted by Agence France Presse, a spokesman for the Shebab Islamist group said the group carried out the attack, saying it killed seven people, including three foreigners.

A car bomb went off on Saturday in central Mogadishu near a hotel popular with government officials and businessmen, injuring at least one person, police and witnesses said.

"There was a car bomb explosion near the rear gate of the Maka Al Mukarama hotel. It seems that the car was parked there loaded with explosives but we are still investigating casualties", police officer Mohamed Mire told AFP.

Somali government forces backed by African Union troops captured a sixth settlement in the latest advance in their renewed offensive against al-Qaida-linked Shebab fighters, a spokesman said Friday.

Shebab gunmen are reported to have fled ahead of the assault on Thursday on the small town of Buula Burde, in the southern Hiran region bordering Ethiopia, Ali Houmed said, spokesman of the African Union's AMISOM force.

East African heads of state met in Addis Ababa Thursday in the latest push for peace in war-torn South Sudan, where almost three months of raging conflict has left thousands dead.

Leaders from the East African bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), were hosted by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to "deliberate on the current situation" in the troubled fledgling nation, a statement read.

The trial of 19 Belgians on terrorism charges began Monday under tight security amid concerns the 15 men and 4 women were part of a local jihadist recruitment network.

They face charges of either fighting alongside jihadist groups in Somalia, having attempted to go to Somalia or Syria, or of having provided support to a Belgian-based recruitment operation.

African peacekeepers in Somalia operating with government forces have recaptured several strategic towns in the southwest from the al-Qaida-linked Shebab militia, officials said Sunday.

The African Union's AMISOM force announced it had launched a widescale offensive on Thursday against the Islamist fighters in areas near the Ethiopian border.

Islamist gunmen who shot dead scores of people in a Nairobi shopping mall last year were in apparent disagreement over whether they should kill women and small children, a court in Kenya heard on Thursday.

Witness Geoffrey Kotia, who was supervising children's activities in the upmarket shopping center, said he was shot by the attackers, accused of killing Somalis and mockingly told to telephone Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for help.

The U.N. Security Council Wednesday extended an easing of a weapons ban in Somalia, but tightened some restrictions to ensure the arms don't end up in the hands of Islamist extremists.

The council first relaxed the embargo a year ago, but kept restrictions in place for heavy weapons and for sensitive equipment. Weapons purchased throughout the past year continued to require prior notification to U.N. authorities.

A car bomb exploded near a cafe in Somalia's capital Mogadishu Thursday in an area close to the intelligence headquarters, killing at least seven people, police said.

"We have counted seven civilians killed in the car bomb, but the toll could be higher as many people were also wounded," police official Ahmed Mumin told Agence France Presse.

Somalia's Al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels launched a major suicide attack Friday against the heavily-fortified presidential palace, home to the country's internationally-backed government, killing officials and guards before dying in a fierce gunbattle.

A huge car bomb exploded at the perimeter of the central Mogadishu complex, and a group of at least nine suicide attackers breached the Villa Somalia compound, one of the best-defended locations in the war-torn country. Shebab rebels immediately claimed responsibility.