Somalia's Yusuf escapes bomb, gunfire that kills 11

SOMALIA: Somalian President Abdullahi Yusuf escaped a bomb that killed five people and wounded several others outside parliament in the provincial capital Baidoa.

He blamed it on al Qaeda. The attack is sure to heighten tension between Somalia's weak official government and Islamists who control Mogadishu and a large swathe of the south.

"This explosion came from a suicide bomber," he told the BBC Somali service when asked who was behind the attack that came as lawmakers approved a new cabinet.

"There is nothing like this in Somalia except for al Qaeda. Anyone who is looking for a solution for Somalia will not get it through political assassinations and suicide bombings."

Foreign Minister Ismail Hurre Buba, in Nairobi, told Reuters a car had exploded as the president's convoy was passing on the way to his residence.

"It was an assassination attempt on the president," he said.

Hurre said five people were killed in the blast. Yusuf escaped unharmed but said his own brother was one of the dead.

Hurre said six attackers had been killed in a gunbattle with Yusuf's bodyguards after the explosion that he said had been triggered from afar.

"It was characteristically an (al) Qaeda-type attempt (with) a car being put next to other cars and an explosion taking place through remote control," he said.

Government militiamen quickly cordoned off the area around parliament, a converted grain warehouse in the town 240 km from the capital Mogadishu.

Baidoa, Tuesday, Reuters