Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was giving a speech at the podium when the teen girl blew herself up. Ten people were murdered in the blast.
(Warning: Graphic Video)
At least five people including top sporting officials were killed and dozens injured when a teenage female suicide bomber sent by Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab blew herself up during a VIP celebration at Mogadishu’s newly-reopened National Theatre.
Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Somalia’s prime minister, was at the podium giving a speech when the girl detonated her explosives, at 11am local time on Wednesday.
Mr Ali was unharmed, but there were reports that one of the five government ministers also attending the event was slightly injured, as were two MPs.
At least five people died, including the presidents of the Somali Football Federation, the head of the country’s Olympic Committee, and a television cameraman, according to eye-witnesses.
Bodies were strewn across a large area as ambulances and private vehicles began ferrying the wounded to hospital.