Fourteen soldiers have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on the headquarters of Ugandan peacekeepers south of Mogadishu.

Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the Islamist movement al-Shabaab. The organisation, which has links with al-Qaeda, says the attack was in retaliation for the death of senior al-Qaeda leader Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. The Kenyan was shot dead by US special forces in Somalia. He was wanted by the US for his alleged role in the 2002 bomb attacks in Kenya.

Al Shabaab has been holding a French citizen hostage since July. On Thursday, his captors issued a series of demands. The group wants the French government to end its support to the Somali government and to withdraw its naval vessels from Somali waters.