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.

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.

At least six people were killed Thursday in a suicide car bomb attack targeting a United Nations convoy close to Mogadishu's heavily-fortified international airport, officials said.

Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels, who are fighting to overthrow the country's internationally-backed government, told Agence France Presse that one of their suicide bombers carried out the attack.

At least eight people were killed when a car bomb rammed into one of Mogadishu's top hotels Wednesday and a second vehicle exploded as the wounded were being treated.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack, which also appeared to involve a commando of gunmen, bore all the hallmarks of Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab group.

War-torn Somalia flew back home Monday some 130 citizens who had been working in troubled South Sudan, the latest of thousands of foreigners to flee violence in the world's youngest country.

Western nations including the United States and Britain flew in military aircraft to evacuate their citizens after fighting began in South Sudan two weeks ago.

The United Nations in Somalia called Thursday for a "proper investigation" after police arrested an alleged rape victim and the journalists who reported her story for defamation.

Rape, and reporting on sexual assault, is one of the most sensitive topics in Somalia, and the case is the latest in a series of arrests of victims and the journalists who aired their story.

At least 18 people were killed in the Somali capital Mogadishu Saturday when two blasts ripped through a busy parking lot next to a restaurant, police said, in attacks quickly claimed by Shebab Islamists.

"There were two heavy explosions at a parking lot near the National Theatre," police officer Mohamed Adan told Agence France Presse.

An Ethiopian Air Force cargo plane crash-landed at Mogadishu's seaside airport on Friday, killing four people on board, the African Union said.

Two crew members were rescued by emergency personnel and are being treated in the African Union military hospital near the base, said Mahamat Saleh Annadif, an African Union representative to Somalia. He said the runway wasn't damaged and airport operations are expected to resume soon.

A suicide car bomb attack struck a Turkish embassy annex in Mogadishu Saturday, killing a Turkish guard and a Somali bystander, witnesses and officials said.

"One of our policemen from the special forces tasked with protecting the embassy annex targeted in the attack has unfortunately died," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

At least one person was killed Saturday when a car bomb exploded in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, the latest in a string of attacks, a local official said.

The car, a government vehicle, exploded near the Sanca intersection in the north of the capital.