Somalia's Al-Qaida-affiliated Shebab militants rammed a suicide car bomb into an African Union base Tuesday before storming the compound, with witnesses reporting many dead, although the AU insisted it had fought off the attack.

Eye-witnesses said the Shebab had taken over the camp and were looting the weapons stores, but the AU force in Somalia (AMISOM) insisted it was in control of the base.

Somalia's Shebab insurgents killed at least six people Sunday in a huge car bomb attack on a heavily guarded hotel in the capital Mogadishu that is also home to several diplomatic missions, officials and witnesses said.

The suicide attack, the latest in a string of bomb blasts and killings in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, came as U.S. President Barack Obama left neighboring Kenya and headed to Ethiopia, both key nations contributing troops to the African Union force battling the al-Qaida-affiliated group.

Somalia's Shebab militants stormed two hotels in the capital Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least three people, before they were themselves killed in heavy fighting, security forces said.

At least one suicide bomber used a car packed with explosives to smash open the gates of one of the two hotels, both fortified, guarded, and popular with lawmakers from the nearby parliament, as well as government workers and businessmen.

Shebab militants launched a major suicide attack on Sunday against a military intelligence base in the capital Mogadishu, setting off a car bomb before storming inside, security officials said.

Somalia's interior ministry said the three attackers were all killed in the raid, and that Somali security forces who fought them suffered no casualties.

Somali security forces shot dead four suspected Shebab insurgents on Thursday, foiling an attack on a political conference in the central town of Adado, officials said.

More than 400 local politicians, leaders and clan elders were meeting in the town to discuss the formation of a regional government when the gunmen tried to storm the building, with one blowing himself up in a bid to breach the gates.

Gunmen shot dead a Somali member of parliament and wounded another in the capital Mogadishu Saturday, security officials said, the latest in a string of assassinations of politicians in the war-torn country.

Lawmaker Yusuf Dirir Abdi was driving with another MP through the streets of the capital when gunmen in a minibus -- apparently done up to look like an ambulance -- pulled alongside and sprayed the vehicle with bullets, killing Abdi, and wounding his colleague and driver.

Three people were killed and six wounded in a car bomb blast outside a popular restaurant in the center of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, police said.

The attack is the latest in a string of bombings in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, where Al-Qaida-affiliated Shebab Islamists are fighting to topple the government.

Somalia's Al-Qaida-linked Shebab militants on Tuesday blasted their way into the higher education ministry with a car bomb before storming the building, killing nine people.

Police and witnesses said the car bomb caused a huge explosion which allowed the gunmen to force their way into the fortified building.

Insurgents in Somalia's capital fired a barrage of mortar rounds Thursday targeting the highly fortified presidential palace and main government compound, killing a guard, security officials said.

There was no claim of any responsibility for the explosions, but the Al-Qaida-affiliated Shebab rebels have staged a string of attacks in their fight to overthrow the country's internationally-backed government.

Somalia's Al-Qaida-linked Shebab insurgents killed at least 25 people in an attack on a popular hotel in the capital Mogadishu where government ministers and officials were holding Friday prayers.

Twin explosions followed by heavy gunfire were heard from the upmarket Central Hotel, close to the presidential palace, with the Islamist gunmen reportedly blasting their way into the fortified building before storming the complex.