A truck bomb has exploded at a government compound in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing dozens of people.

Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu's ambulance service, says the blast Tuesday killed more than 60 and injured more than 40 others.

Witnesses told VOA that two suicide bombers drove the truck into the compound, which houses eight Somali government ministries.

The al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A Somali journalist at the scene told VOA that most of the victims are students, who came to the Ministry of Education to learn the results of exams for potential scholarships in Turkey.

The Somali government condemned the attack, saying it shows the danger from terrorists is not over.

Al-Shabab pulled its fighters from Mogadishu in August, but continues to hold large sections of southern and central Somalia. The group is fighting to overthrow Somalia's fragile transitional government in a bid to impose a strict form of Sharia, or Islamic law.