A roadside bomb said to be targeting the mayor of the Somali capital Mogadishu killed two people on Sunday and wounded two others, officials said. Roadside bomb explosion was detonated in MogadishuÂ’s Yaqshid district, north of the Somali capital. Mogadishu mayor, Mohaamed Dheere told journalists that he survived from a grenade attack while his convoy was passing in north Mogadishu where government soldiers and officials are frequently visible. The attacker was on top of a tree when he threw a hand grenade at DheereÂ’s convoy. He was shot dead by the bodyguards of the mayor while one suspect was apprehended, according to Dheere.
The blast came barely three days after the Somali prime minister's convoy was attacked in the same city and four days after four Ugandan peacekeepers died in a similar attack. "Two died and two were wounded. I think the bomb attack was targeting Transitional Federal Government (TFG) officials. All the casualties were civilians," a security source who did not wish to be named, said.
The mayor was going to his office in a convoy and the remote controlled bomb -- fashioned from a landmine -- exploded on a road in the north of the city, the source said. "Fortunately the bomb exploded before his vehicle passed," Mohamed Osman, a deputy mayor who was not part of the convoy, said by phone. "No one was hurt in the convoy. The man who detonated the bomb was captured as he was trying to flee. He was killed."