Mogadishu , Somalia ( CNN ) A car bomb exploded at a restaurant near the presidential palace in the heart of Somalia 's capital Tuesday , killing at least 10 people , including a woman and a boy , police said . Somalia-based Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack . Group spokesman Sheikh Abdiaziz Musab , speaking to pro-Al-Shabaab outlet Andalus radio , said the blast targeted and killed several Somali intelligence agents . Somali police spokesman Qasim Mohamed Roble told reporters that the car bomb killed no government official or soldier . Among the dead , he said , was a boy who shined shoes . The area is not a new target for Al-Shabaab , which has battled Somalia 's government for years with the goal of establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state . The restaurant is across the street from the Central Hotel , where Al-Shabaab killed at least 15 people in a bombing and gun attack in February . The streets outside the restaurant were `` littered with debris and human body parts '' after Tuesday 's explosion , witness Mohamed Ali said . The blast damaged nearby buildings and vehicles at a parking lot , according to Ali . Ambulances took wounded people to a nearby hospital for treatment . Tuesday 's bombing is at least the third high-profile attack near or at a Mogadishu hotel since February . On February 20 , militants attacked the Central Hotel , blowing up a car bomb outside before shooting people and detonating another bomb inside . Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack . More than a month later , on March 27 , gunmen detonated explosives and shot people at a different Mogadishu hotel -- the Makka Al Mukarama -- leaving at least 20 people dead . The attack stretched into the next day before security personnel killed all the assailants . Al-Shabaab also said it was responsible for the Makka Al Mukarama attack , claiming it targeted the hotel because its guests were spies and government officials . Among those killed in the March 27 assault was Yusuf Mohamed Ismail Bari-Bari , Somalia 's permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva , Switzerland , the Somali government said . Journalist Omar Nor reported from Mogadishu . CNN 's Jason Hanna wrote in Atlanta .
Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for the attack . The explosion happened across the street from a hotel that was attacked two months ago . A U.S. official says there is no evidence of any connection between the attacks and al Qaeda in East Africa.