Somali militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb explosion Wednesday outside a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu.

At least 15 people were killed in the attack and dozens more wounded, including Somali parliament members.

The Hotel Muna, which is next to the Somali presidential palace, is known as a residence and gathering point for Somali lawmakers.

Lawmaker Liban Abdullahi Diriye told VOA a small car full of explosives was detonated at a cafe next to the hotel.

A new report says Somali piracy cost the world economy nearly $7 billion last year, most of it spent to protect ships from hijackings.

The report, from the U.S.-based One Earth Future foundation, said Somali pirates command an average ransom of $5 million per ship.

But it says ransoms were only a small fraction of the overall cost in 2011. It says the largest amount, $2.7 billion, was for increased fuel costs as ships try to move quickly through piracy-prone areas.

Witnesses say two separate explosions rocked the central Nigerian city of Kaduna on Tuesday, including one near a military base.

Police say one blast occurred near a bridge and the other took place at the base of the army's 1st Mechanized Division just outside Kaduna. Officials said there were an unknown number of casualties.

Police were investigating reports that the army base blast was caused by a suicide bomber who rammed a car through the front gates. Witnesses say soldiers cordoned off the area and blocked rescue workers from entering the site.

Reports from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria say an oil pipeline has been attacked and left ruptured and burning.

The Nigerian militant group that goes by the acronym MEND said it carried out Saturday's attack on the Italian-owned pipeline. In an e-mail message to journalists, it promised more attacks on foreign-owned interests in the country.

The pipeline's owner, Italian firm Eni, has yet to comment on the attack. It occurred in Bayelsa state, home to Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and where a gubernatorial election is scheduled for next Saturday.

The Philippine military says it has killed three of southeast Asia's top Islamist militants in a U.S.-backed air raid on the remote southern island of Jolo.

The three terrorist leaders have been identified as Umbra Jumdail, a leader in the Abu Sayyaf group, and Jemaah Islamiyah leaders Zulkifli bin Hir and Abdullah Ali.

Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian national also known as Marwan, carried a $5 million reward for his capture offered by the United States.

Ali was a Singaporean national who went by the alias Muawiyah.

Security officials say militants have stormed a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing seven soldiers and wounding three.

Officials say 18 militants were killed when Pakistani forces retaliated during Friday's attack in the Kurram tribal agency.

At least four troops were said to be abducted by the Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the assault.

Friday's death toll could not be independently verified because the region is off-limits to journalists.

In a visit to Somalia's capital of Mogadishu Thursday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague promised to step up the fight against terrorism and piracy. Hague is the first British foreign secretary to visit the war-ravaged city in two decades.

Secretary Hague's visit comes during a time of relative peace and security in Mogadishu, since African Union (AMISOM) troops and forces of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) pushed al-Shabab out of the capital last month.

Colombian rebels say they are putting off plans to free six hostages held for more than 10 years because of what they say is military activity in the area.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said Wednesday it will make another attempt to free its captives as soon as what it calls the president's "insanity" abates.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos says nobody knows where the hostages are being held. He appealed to the rebels to stop what he says are tricks and deceptions, and free the hostages now.

Thousands of Egyptians in Cairo have protested to denounce the country's military rulers and security forces for failing to prevent a soccer riot that killed 74 people and injured hundreds more in the northern city of Port Said.

Some protesters gathered Thursday in central Cairo's Tahrir Square while others marched to the nearby Interior Ministry, where riot police fired tear gas to keep them away. A crowd also chanted slogans against the ruling military at a Cairo train station where survivors of Wednesday's riot were returning home, some of them injured.