Sports officials killed in Somalia bomb blast
At least seven people were killed in an explosion at the newly re-opened national theatre in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Friday, BBC reports.
The President of the Somali Olympic Committee, Aden Yabarow Wiish, and the Somali Football Federation chief, Said Mohamed Nur, were both killed.
Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was also present when the blast struck the newly re-opened theatre but he told BBC News he was unhurt.
The African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Somalia condemned the attack as "despicable" and said it would not deter peace efforts.
The President of the Somali Olympic Committee, Aden Yabarow Wiish, and the Somali Football Federation chief, Said Mohamed Nur, were both killed. They were among a group of dignitaries who had gathered to mark the first anniversary of the launch of Somalia's national television station.
According to reports, several television journalists and members of parliament were also wounded in the blast.
"We were behind the theatre blast. We targeted the infidel ministers and legislators, and they were the casualties of today," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, told Reuters.
The theatre closed in the early 1990s as Somalia descended into civil war and was only reopened in March, amid a new period of relative optimism.
