Breaking News: Blasts Hit Somalia Peacekeepers

Two huge explosions have gone off at an African Union peacekeepers' base in the Somali capital, witnesses say. The Islamist al-Shabab group has said it carried out a double suicide attack, reports the AFP news agency. One witness said he had seen two bodies. Six bleeding peacekeepers were seen being carried away from the Mogadishu base, says Reuters news agency. Al-Shabab on Tuesday vowed to avenge a US raid in southern Somalia, which reportedly killed an al-Qaeda suspect. "I have seen the bodies of two people who were brought from the area," said a witness, Ali Mohamed, adding that they looked like Somalis, AFP reports. There are some 5,000 AU troops from Uganda and Burundi in Mogadishu, protecting the weak, UN-backed government. Earlier, al-Shabab demanded that France ensure that AU forces are pulled out of Somalia. This was one of several demands issued by al-Shabab for the release of a French security adviser captured in July.