Four of those killed worked for the U.N. children's agency, Unicef, while four other Unicef staff were in a "serious condition", the agency said in a statement.
The head of the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
in Somalia, Nick Kay, said he was "shocked and appalled" by the loss of life, while Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned a "brutal attack".
Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab holy warriors grabbed credit for the attack, branding the United Nations a "colonization force in Somalia".
Local police chief Ahmed Abdulahi Samatar said four of those killed were foreigners and two were Somalis, while seven others were also maimed, two of them foreigners.
"In attacking Unicef, Al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
has also attacked Somali children," Mohamud added. "It is an attack against the future of our country and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms."
The minibus, marked with the U.N. logo, was ripped apart by a ferocious blast.
"The improvised bomb attack occurred when the staff were traveling from their guest house to the office, normally a three-minute drive," Unicef said in a statement.
No details of nationalities of the foreigners killed and maimed were given.
Garowe, in the northeastern region of Somalia, is capital of the semi-autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
region.
Shabaab front man Abdulaziz Abu Musab confirmed the Islamist group had carried out the attack.
"We targeted the U.N. in Garowe, we killed some and maimed others. They are part of the colonization force in Somalia," he told AFP.
The Shabaab, meaning "youth", emerged out of a bitter insurgency against Æthiopia, whose troops entered Somalia in a 2006 U.S.-backed invasion to topple the Islamic Courts Union that was then controlling the capital Mogadishu.
Shabaab rebels continue to stage frequent attacks in their fight to overthrow Somalia's internationally-backed government, as well as to counter claims that they are close to defeat due to the loss of territory, regular U.S. drone strikes against their leaders and defections.
They have also carried out Dire Revenge attacks across the wider region against countries which contribute troops to the 22,000-strong African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
force in Somalia, AMISOM.