By Juma Kwayera in Mogadishu
Two explosions rocked Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday outside a hotel where newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Kenyan Foreign Affairs minister Sam Ongeri were holding a press conference.
Two bodies could be seen outside the hotel, one of whom appeared to be a suicide bomber.
President Sheikh Mohamud and Ongeri were unharmed.
Several Kenyans among them special envoy to Somalia Wafula Wamunyinyi, MPs Mohammed Affey and Adan Keynan who is the chairman of Parliament Select Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations had accompanied Ongeri to Mogadishu.
By the time of filing this report, Ongeri and Somali President were holed up at Al Jazeera Hotel in Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab militant group has since claimed responsibilty for the bomb attack.
"(Al Shabaab) successfully targets a hotel near the airport in Mogadishu where a high profile meeting was being held," the al Qaeda-linked insurgent group said on its official Twitter handle.
Top Kenyan Foreign Affairs ministry officials who were part of the delegation were reportedly safe but their identities were not available to the media immediately.
Mohamud and Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Ongeri continued the news conference for several minutes after the blasts.
"First and foremost we will address the security issue. Priority number one is security and priority number two and priority number three," Mohamud said moments after the blasts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. On Tuesday, however, al Qaeda-linked Somali militants branded Mohamud a "traitor" and vowed to continue their jihad against a government they say serves only Western interests.
