At least 10 people were killed Friday and more than 10 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a stadium in Galkayo town in the Mudug region of central Somalia.
The blast occurred shortly before Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and the regional president, Ahmed Abdi Kariye, were due to speak at an event in the area.
Witnesses said the bomber targeted government officials and members of the prime minister’s security team heading to the stadium for a rally of government supporter.
Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. It said Somalia’s prime minister was its target in Friday’s bombing.
“Roble was the main target of our attack and we killed two senior military commanders in the attacks,” said an al-Shabaab statement aired via the group’s mobile official station, Radio Andalus.