MOGADISHU, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- A Somali lawmaker from a regional parliament was killed on Thursday in a car bombing attack in Hamar-weyne district near Somalia's presidential palace in Mogadishu.

Hirshabelle Parliament member Abdukadir Osman Abdisalan confirmed to Xinhua by phone that his colleague was killed by a bomb attached under his vehicle.

"Abdiweli Mohamed Ibrahim, Hirshabelle member of parliament was killed in the car bomb explosion in Mogadishu this afternoon, he was an old man and he was my friend in the same state parliament," Abdisalan said.

Al-Shabab militants claimed the responsibility for the latest attack against the member of the regional parliament, saying said its fighters killed Ibrahim at an area close to the presidential palace in Mogadishu.

The attack came as Somali security forces have intensified operations against al-Shabab militants in key areas in the capital in the last two months.