Somali government spokesperson, Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, was wounded on Sunday following an explosion at a road junction in the capital Mogadishu.
According to the police and the national news agency, a suicide bomber had set off the blast, which scattered his remains on the ground close to Moalimuu’s four-wheel-drive vehicle with its back windows blown off.
Moalimuu was rushed to the hospital, where he is being treated and reportedly in a stable condition.
The al Qaeda-linked terrorist militant group Al-Shabaab, in comments on its Andalus radio station, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Moalimuu’s boss, Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble, called the bombing “odious terrorist attack,” in a statement on Twitter.
According to Nasra Bashir Ali, a state media special correspondent in Roble’s office, Moalimuu’s injuries are not life-threatening, as the bomber targeted him while he was in his vehicle.
Al Shabaab frequently carries out attacks on Somali security and government targets as well as civilians.
It seeks to overthrow the UN-backed central government by imposing its own twisted interpretation of Islamic law. It also attacks African Union peacekeepers.