A vehicle laden with explosives ploughed into a guest house hosting government officials in Bardera, 450 kilometers (279 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu, area police commander Hussein Adan, told AFP.
“The explosion destroyed most parts of the building and five security guards died in the blast,” Adan said.
Eleven people, including the governor Ahmed Bulle Gared, were injured, he added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Al-Shabaab remains a potent force in the troubled Horn of Africa nation despite multinational efforts to degrade its leadership.
Mohamud Saney, who witnessed Tuesday’s attack, said, they had “never heard anything as big as the explosion.”
“It shook the earth like an earthquake.”
Al-Shabaab has been waging a bloody insurgency against the central government in the fragile nation for about 15 years.
SKH/PR