An explosion near the UNDP compound in Mogadishu this morning has left at least four people wounded, according to police and witnesses.

“We can confirm that four guards working for the United Nations were injured,” Major Nur Osman, a police officer at the scene, told Reuters.

Early reports indicate that a bomb was planted on to a Toyota Hilux pick-up truck that was parked in a nearby garage operated by the UNDP. A UNDP official confirmed that UN staff were among those wounded.

Security forces immediately cordoned off the scene.

Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released by the militant groups spokesperson Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab.

“We are behind the blast that injured at least three U.N. guards this morning,”

The Al Qaeda-allied militants have vowed to disrupt the parliamentary and presidential election process.

This comes just days after AMISOM HQ in Mogadishu was targeted in a suicide car bomb attack by Al Shabaab.