At least 8 killed in Mogadishu blast during Somalia PM's speech
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-03 21:42

At least eight people were killed and 28 wounded when a blast hit a stadium in Mogadishu where Somalia's transitional prime minister was addressing a large crowd.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, making his first visit to the capital itself since taking office last year in the lawless Horn of Africa country run by rival warlords for more than a decade, was unhurt by the explosion.

He appeared to want to continue speaking but was whisked away from the site by his security team, according to an AFP correspondent on the scene.

Several thousand Somalis who were listening to the speech fled the stadium in panic as the dead and wounded, several of whom suffered serious injuries, were taken to local hospitals, police and witnesses said Tuesday.

"At least eight of (the 28 wounded) are in very critical condition," said Abdi Hassan, a senior Mogadishu police official, adding that the explosion was believed to have been caused by a hand grenade.

The blast occurred as Gedi continued his maiden tour of the capital, which began last week in a bid to settle a bitter dispute over when and where his transitional government should relocate to inside Somalia from exile in Kenya.

Moments before the explosion, Gedi had told the crowd that he was willing to drop controversial plans to move the government to the town of Baidoa or Jowhar if security in Mogadishu was enhanced.

"We will relocate to Mogadishu if security improves," he said. "The security situation is the most important thing."

Since arriving on Friday with a team of African Union and Arab League diplomats, Gedi has held talks with at least 70 lawmakers, ministers and warlords who have been here trying to agree on a plan on how to pacify the some 15,000 heavily armed militia fighters who rule the capital.

On Sunday, he appealed to warlords to withdraw gunmen from Mogadishu to allow his government to move there from Nairobi and operate safely.

The warlords have been reluctant to withdraw their fighters from the capital in the past and are now skeptical of the planned deployment of a regional peackeeping force intended to help the transitional government get a foothold.

Under an African Union (AU) mandate, the seven-member east African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is soon to begin deploying as many as 10,000 peacekeepers.

Ugandan and Sudanese troops at the vanguard of the mission are expected to start arriving in Somalia the coming weeks.

Bullet-scarred Mogadishu has been a hub of instability in Somalia, which was plunged into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohammed Siad Barre.

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