MOGADISHU: A huge blast went off in the Somali capital on Wednesday on a road leading to the airport, and a Reuters photographer saw four bodies at the scene.

The explosion damaged four cars and two motor rickshaws. The photographer said it was not immediately clear what had caused the explosion. A paramedic was attending to at least one injured person.

Ahmed Nur, a shopkeeper nearby, said he had seen at least five bodies.

"I see five dead people wrapped in paper bags and covered with iron sheets, legs visible and then being transported in an ambulance," he told Reuters.