MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it was responsible for a bomb blast on Wednesday near the presidential palace and other government buildings in Somalia's capital Mogadishu that city authorities said had killed three people.

CAIRO (Reuters) - The planned arrival of Turkish military advisers in Libya should bolster the internationally recognised government, but may not be enough to turn the tide of a conflict in which eastern-based forces have the upper hand thanks to foreign support.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A bomb exploded at a busy junction in Mogadishu on Wednesday, wounding at least 11 people, the head of the rescue service in the Somali capital said.

(Reuters) - EgyptAir, Egypt's flag carrier, said on Tuesday it will suspend its flights to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, for three days starting from Wednesday because of the instable security situation in Iraq.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Forces aligned with Libya's internationally recognised Government of National Accord said on Tuesday they had withdrawn from the strategic coastal city of Sirte to avoid bloodshed, after their eastern rivals rapidly entered it and took control.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Four Kenyan civilians were killed in a gunfight on Tuesday between police and al Shabaab militants from Somalia who attacked a telecommunications mast in the third such deadly incident in Kenya this week, police said.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Libya envoy said on Monday that a country supporting commander Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) was likely responsible for a deadly drone attack on a military academy in the capital Tripoli.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military deployed additional forces to Kenya on Monday to bolster security at a key airfield after an attack by al Shabaab militants on Sunday that killed three Americans, the military's Africa Command said.

MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - At least 30 people were killed in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno after an improvised explosive device detonated on a bridge, sources told Reuters on Monday.

ALEXANDRIA (Egypt) (Reuters) - Egypt on Monday shut the harbours of two of its Mediterranean ports, Alexandria and Dekheila, as bad weather forced the second closure within a few days.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police arrested three men suspected of trying to break into a British army camp in Laikipia in central Kenya on the same day Islamist insurgents attacked another base used by U.S. and Kenyan forces, according to a police report seen by Reuters.

ABIDJAN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast remain cautiously optimistic as the start of the seasonal dry Harmattan winds had not affected crops so far, they told Reuters on Monday.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Police in Uganda on Monday fired tear gas to disperse supporters of pop star and presidential hopeful Bobi Wine when he tried to hold a rally, underscoring the hurdles he faces in seeking to unseat President Yoweri Museveni.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Police in Uganda on Monday fired tear gas to disperse supporters of pop star and presidential hopeful Bobi Wine when he tried to hold a rally, underscoring the hurdles he faces as he seeks to unseat long ruling President Yoweri Museveni, 75.

ABIDJAN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Ghana's graded and sealed (G&S) cocoa arrivals stood at 456,000 tonnes as of Dec. 19, unchanged from last year, figures from marketing board Cocobod showed on Monday.

STRYDENBURG/GROBLERSHOOP, South Africa (Reuters) - A severe drought is threatening South Africa's wildlife industry, with game farmers keeping fewer animals and tourists visiting game lodges in smaller numbers.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Police arrested three men who tried to break into a British army camp in Laikipia in central Kenya, police said in a report seen by Reuters on Monday.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian police have been placed on a heightened state of alert after the U.S. killing of a top Iranian military commander in Iraq sparked fears of public disturbances in the West African country, the police said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi spoke on the phone with British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab on Sunday to discuss the latest tensions in the region and the consequences of a military confrontation, Abdul Mahdi's office said.

Tripoli (Reuters) - At least 30 people were killed and 33 others wounded in an attack on a military academy in the Libyan capital late on Saturday, the health ministry of the Tripoli-based government said in a statement on Sunday.