Somalia's Olympic committee and football heads are among seven people killed by a bomb in Mogadishu.
Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was also present when the blast struck the newly re-opened national theatre but he told the BBC he was unhurt.
Militants from the Al-Shabaab group say they had carried out the bombing.
The African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Somalia condemned the attack as "despicable" and said it would not deter peace efforts.
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. Soldiers stand guard outside the national theatre after an explosion, in Mogadishu April 4, 2012. Al Shabaab rebels in Somalia claimed responsibility for the explosion. (Photo:Reuters)
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.
Three Somali television journalists were also wounded in the blast, sources have told the BBC Somali Service.
Earlier reports put the number of dead at 10.
Musical event
The prime minister told the BBC woman suicide attackers had struck.
"In the middle of my speech... a suicide bomber exploded herself," he told BBC News.
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