Somalia’s Olympic committee and the head of the country’s soccer federation were among those killed by a female suicide bomber today at Mogadishu’s national theater, MSNBC is reporting. The two were killed when the blast hit the first anniversary celebration of Somalia’s satellite television station, sports official Shafici Mohyadin said.

Responsibility for the blast, which shows the continued fragile state of security in Mogadishu, the capital, was claimed by Al Shabaab insurgents. The bombing was an attempt to kill the country’s prime minister while he spoke at the television celebration. The blast is the latest among al Qaeda-allied militants who have regularly struck targets in Mogadishu since August with bombs, mortars and suicide bombers.

A soldier guarding the theater, Mohamed Ali, told Reuters that the bomber was initially stopped by security. But the security team eventually let her through because she was carrying a police ID.

At least 10 people were killed and dozens were wounded during the bombing, Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said. The country’s national planning minister was among the wounded.

The re-opening of the theater was viewed as a way for Mogadishu to return to normality after it was engulfed by civil war and terrorism in the early 1990s. At the time, public entertainment was frowned upon by the al-Shabaah militants. Current theater directors had planned to use the stage to show plays reflecting the transition towards peace.

Written by: Karen Benardello

solmali 2012 olympic chief killed

By Karen Benardello

As a graduate of LIU Post with a B.F.A in Journalism, Print and Electronic, Karen Benardello serves as ShockYa's Senior Movies & Television Editor. Her duties include interviewing filmmakers and musicians, and scribing movie, television and music reviews and news articles. As a New York City-area based journalist, she's a member of the guilds, New York Film Critics Online and the Women Film Critics Circle.

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