A group linked to al-Qaeda tried to assassinate the Somali prime minister in a suicide bomb attack in front of his compound on Sunday that killed and injured an unknown number of people.
It is at least the third attempt on Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's life since he returned to Somalia in May 2005.
The attack followed a deadly weekend assault in northeastern Somalia by security forces and a US warship against Islamic extremists with suspected links to al-Qaeda.
"It was a suicide attack. They are terrorists linked to al-Qaeda. They planned to kill the prime minister. He escaped their assassination attempt. He is alive. And now he is in a safe place," Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle said.
Paddy Ankunda, spokesman of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Mogadishu, said that a number of people were killed and others wounded.
Ankunda said that within minutes of the explosion, peacekeepers sealed off the area around Gedi's house and took charge of security. The peacekeepers are based at President Abdullahi Yusuf's residence, the main airport and Mogadishu port.
Qasaye Mohamed Ali, who lives in the neighborhood, said he was standing near the prime minister's house when he saw the car force its way through a roadblock. Guards outside the house opened fire and then the car rammed into a wall and exploded, he said.
Ali was waiting for a friend who was inside the house when the explosion happened. He said he hid behind a wall to protect himself.
The attack undermines the government assertion that it has defeated Islamic insurgents who have vowed to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war unless Somalia becomes an Islamic state.
Ethiopian-Somali forces yesterday killed three civilians and wounded five others after a failed hand grenade attack on their convoy in Mogadishu, witnesses said.
It was the second failed grenade attack of the day on Ethiopian-Somali troops in the northern district of Huriwa.
"Immediately after the grenade was thrown at the Ethiopian-Somali convoy, they opened heavy fire in the direction it came from," witness Ahmed Ismail said.
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