Separate attacks have targeted a US military base in the Somali town of Baledogle and a European military convoy in the capital, Mogadishu.

A bomb attack was followed by small arms fire at a base operated by US special forces on Monday, a security source told Reuters news agency.

The Somali armed group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack at the Balidogle base located in the Lower Shabelle region, about 100km (60 miles) west of Mogadishu.

Italy’s defence ministry in a statement confirmed that an Italian military convoy was hit by an explosion. No injuries had been reported so far, the defence ministry said.

Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from neighbouring Kenya, said the first attack targeted the base, housing US troops and Somali soldiers, used to carry out drone attacks on the al-Shabab group.

He added that an improvised device was used to target the Italian convoy that has been guarding the European Union (EU) team.

The EU has been training Somali national army among other things, he said.

“The attack happened as Mogadishu was under a lockdown due to a high-level meeting at the UN headquarters. And it’s believed the convoy may have been coming to or from that meeting, the Al Jazeera correspodent said reporting from Nanyuki.

(SOURCE: AL JAZEERA)