Somalia: Female suicide bomber blows herself up, kills 10

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — An explosion Wednesday at a ceremony at Somalia’s national theater killed at least 10 people including two top sports officials in an attack by an Islamist group on a site that symbolized the city’s attempt to rise from two decades of war.

The explosion at the newly reopened theater happened as Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was standing at the podium to deliver a speech. The prime minister was unharmed, said Abdirahman Omar Osman, the government spokesman. The president of Somalia’s Olympic committee and the president of its soccer federation were killed, according to Shafici Mohyadin, the federation’s secretary.

The blast shattered a tentative peace that descended on Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, after fighters belonging to the Islamist group al-Shabab were pushed out last August by government and African Union troops.

The government said a female suicide bomber carried out the attack, but al-Shabab, using its official Twitter feed to claim responsbility for the attack, said explosives had been planted in the theater before the event.

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