Somalia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble says a government spokesman who was wounded in a “odious terrorist attack” on his car on Sunday is “in stable condition”.
Eyewitnesses believe it is a direct attack on Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu because of how closely the suicide bomber detonated the explosives.
The former BBC journalist was rushed from bomb blast at a road junction in the capital, Mogadishu, to hospital.
Al-Shabab militants claimed the attack.
Mr Moalimuu worked as a BBC correspondent in Somalia for several years and was head of the National Union of Somali Journalists. He has been caught up in at least five suicide attacks in Mogadishu.
This latest bombing in the capital comes days after another that killed at least eight people – that one carried out by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab near a Somali Air Force camp and the international airport.
Al-Shabab has been fighting Somalia’s government for more than a decade, and retains a stronghold on parts of the country.
These latest bombings come amid a months-long political stand-off between the prime minister and the president over the conduct of delayed elections.
“It seems now it has been sorted out,” Somali journalist Mohamed Mohamed told BBC Focus on Africa radio earlier this week. “The regional leaders and the prime minister have managed to get an agreement which hastens elections within 40 days – starting from 15 January.”
