Government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu was injured Sunday in a shebab suicide attack on his car in Mogadishu, Somalia, the prime minister’s office and police said.
According to several sources, the assailant tried to hang onto his car before detonating his bomb, partially destroying the vehicle.
“A suicide bomber jumped on the vehicle carrying government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim. He was lucky to survive with minor injuries,” said Mohamed Farah, a police officer at the scene of the attack.
“Two other people were injured in the blast,” he added.
Witnesses confirmed that the assailant leaned on the car before a loud explosion sounded.
The attack was claimed by the Shebab in a statement.
Moalimuu, a government spokesman and adviser to the prime minister for more than a year, is a former BBC journalist and former secretary general of the National Union of Somali Journalists.
Sunday’s attack came as Somalia is set to resume its election process, which has been delayed and stalled for months, amid tensions between President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.
On Monday, Mogadishu was the scene of a suicide car bombing claimed by the Shebab that killed more than four people.