Somalia’s Olympic committee officials among 7 people killed in an explosion at Mogadishu’s national theater

Members of Somalia’s Olympic committee and Football Federation heads are among seven people killed in a suicide blast at Mogadishu’s national theater re-opening ceremony.

Somali PM Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was also present when the attacker struck the newly re-opened national theatre, but he said he was unhurt.

Al-Shabab militants say they carried out the bombing.

The theatre closed in the early 1990s as Somalia descended into civil war and was only reopened last month, amid a new period of relative optimism.

Seven people have been killed in a suicide blast at Mogadishu’s national theater re-opening ceremony

The President of the Somali Olympic Committee, Aden Yabarow Wiish, and the Somali Football Federation chief, Said Mohamed Nur, were among a group of dignitaries who had gathered to mark the first anniversary of the launch of Somalia’s national television station.

According to Somali Service, three Somali television journalists were also wounded in the blast.

Eyewitnesses said the attacker was a woman.

Al-Shabab militants who had controlled large parts of the country, including Mogadishu, were pushed out of the city by troops from the African Union last year.

Since then, there has been a period of relative quiet, with sporting activity resuming, restaurants opening, and the re-opening of the National Theatre.

But al-Shabab has continued to attack the capital with bombs and mortars.