GAROWE, Somalia 

At least three people were killed Wednesday evening in a suicide bombing in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, officials said.

Abdifatah Hassan, a police captain in Mogadishu told Anadolu Agency that the attack was caused by a lone suicide bomber targeting a popular restaurant near the heavily protected presidential palace frequented by government officials and security forces.

Ismail Mukhtar Oronjo, a Somali government spokesman, told Anadolu Agency that at least two civilians were among the dead, while seven other people were wounded.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but authorities have blamed the Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab insurgent group, which has claimed responsibility for other recent attacks in the horn of Africa nation.

The attack comes 24 hours after the Somali military claimed it had killed 14 al-Shabaab militants after an assault in the southern town of Bal'ad some 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of the capital.

On Monday, at least three soldiers were killed, and several injured in a car bombing that targeted a military base outside Kismayo, the administrative capital of Somalia's southern Jubaland state.

One US service member was also wounded in the attack, according to AFRICOM.