Al Qaeda affiliated rebels have taken credit for a suicide bomb attack on the compound of Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed that killed at least two people.
An Al-Shabab bomber detonated an explosive vest outside the compound in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
The Al-Shabab group said in a Twitter post: “The mujahideen carried out a spectacular martyrdom operation inside the presidential palace of the apostate Somali regime.”Police spokesman Abdulahi Hasan Barise said that according to initial reports at least three people had been killed, including the bomber, and that six others had been injured.
The Islamist militant group has been responsible for previous deadly attacks.
In October, the militia killed at least 82 people in a car bombing attack outside a government compound.
An Al-Shabab suicide bomber also killed 15 people in February at a cafe near the presidential palace.
The insurgents have been fighting to overthrow the Somali government in Mogadishu, which is supported by a 10,000-strong African Union force comprising troops from Djibouti, Burundi and Uganda.
Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, allowing Al-Shabab to gain control over large territories in the South of country.
The militant group has recently come under pressure from the armed forces of neighbouring states Kenya and Ethiopia in the far south and west.
However, experts warn that Al-Shabab remains a major threat especially since they have switched from fixed bases to guerrilla tactics.
(AFP 14/03/12)
