At least five soldiers have been killed and more than 15 wounded after a suicide bomber wearing a military uniform blew himself up inside a military base in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, witnesses have told the BBC Somali service.

The Al-Shabab militant group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, said it was behind the blast. 

In a second attack, a government official was killed by a bomb planted in his car in Mogadishu, Reuters news agency reports. 

The attacks come the week after President Mohamed Abdullahi Faramajo's declared war on the group and offered a 60-day amnesty to militants to surrender.

Kenya's Paul Lonyangata won the Paris marathon on Sunday with his wife Purity Rionoripo winning the women's race.

Lonyangata recorded his biggest career win with a time of two hours, six minutes and 10 seconds, while Rionoripo smashed her personal best by almost four minutes to win the race in two hours, 20 minutes and 55 seconds.

The couple's success put a smile back on the face of Kenyan athletics 48 hours after the shock news of Olympic marathon champion Jemima Sumgong's failed drugs test .

Sumgong was the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold in the marathon when she triumphed in Rio last year.

In the true spirit of the city of love, Lonyangata got down on one knee to present his wife with a bouquet of flowers, in front of Paris' most famous landmark:

Eurosport has shared some of the video highlights of the race on its Facebook page:

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Image source, AFP

Police have banned political protests across the Democratic Republic of Congo, setting the stage for possible violence if the opposition goes ahead with planned anti-government demonstrations today.

All protests of a political nature would be "stopped", Colonel Mwana Mputu told UN-sponsored Radio Okapi.

The main opposition coalition has called for nationwide rallies today to protest against the failure to implement a deal signed with the government in December, which would pave the way for President Joseph Kabila to step down.

Under the terms of the deal, elections would be held before the end of 2017, in which Mr Kabila would not run.

The opposition had planned the demonstrations even before the president appointed Bruno Tshibala as the country’s new prime minister on 7 April.

The opposition, which was supposed to propose a prime minister under the December deal, has rejected the appointment of Mr Tshibala, saying it violates the agreement

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC has seen evidence that top executives at Shell knew money paid to the Nigerian government for a vast oil field would be passed to a convicted money-launderer.

It also had reason to believe that money would be used to pay political bribes.

The deal was concluded while Shell was operating under a probation order for a separate corruption case in Nigeria.

Shell said it did not believe its employees acted illegally.

Read the full BBC story here

Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has announced a three-month state of emergency after attacks on two Coptic churches that left at least 44 dead.

The measure allows authorities to make arrests without warrants and search people's homes. It needs to be approved by parliament before it is implemented.

The militant Islamic State group said it was behind the blasts in Tanta and Alexandria on Palm Sunday.

Read the full BBC story here

Image source, af

Supporters of South Africa's embattled President Jacob Zuma heckled and disrupted a speech by sacked Finance Minister Pravin Gordan in which he condemned corruption in the governing African National Congress (ANC) and warned that the party could lose the 2019 election. 

The crowd burst into songs praising the scandal-hit Mr Zuma at yesterday's memorial for veteran anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada in the president's political heartland of KwaZulu-Natal, and supported his controversial decision to fire Mr Gordhan - a move that led to global rating agencies downgrading South Africa to "junk status".  

As he battled to be heard, Mr Gordhan said:

Image source, AFP

Mr Gordhan also warned that divisions in the ANC could cost the party dearly in the election.  

Mr Zuma is to face an opposition-sponsored no-confidence vote in parliament next week after it accused him of being "reckless" with the economy, and of being a corrupt leader who wanted to pack the Treasury with his allies. 

His allies deny the allegation, insisting that Mr Zuma wants to promote "radical economic transformation" to benefit the black majority. 

A court ruled last year that Mr Zuma breached his oath of office by failing to repay government money used to upgrade his private home, while he is appealing against the ruling of another court ruled he should be charged with corruption related to an arms deal. 

Mr Zuma denies any wrongdoing. 

Read Knives out for Mr Zuma

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