A former Foreign Affairs minister was among five people killed on Wednesday at Mogadishu in the latest Al-Shabaab engineered attacks, authorities have reported.
Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayr told a press conference that former foreign minister Hussein Elabe Faahiye, who served under former premier Ali Mohamed Gedi in 2007, was among those killed.
"The security forces stopped... a vehicle loaded with explosives which was aiming to target a security forces base. We have confirmed five killed and 11 wounded in the blast," deputy police chief Zakia Hussein wrote on Twitter.
The attack comes at the time Kenya is embroiled in a diplomatic row with Somalia over oil fields along Indian Ocean, a move that has led to severe sanctions from Nairobi.
On Monday, security forces at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport blocked three officials from Somalia from gaining access to the country, with Foreign Affairs minister Monica Juma claiming that they did not have Visas.
"The Kenyan authorities at the airport informed these guys that such plan has changed, and now everyone has to obtain visa from Kenya’s Mission in Mogadishu," a senior Somali official in the delegation, but who travelled on a foreign passport, told the Nation on Monday night.
"The officials learnt this change upon arrival as there was no prior communication regarding this."
As a precautionary measure, all commercial aircrafts from Somalia are diverted to Wajir airport, a move which Kenya says will enhance the country do proper security check-ups to avoid further disasters in Nairobi.
The Kenyan government has also intensified search and rescue operations within Gedo region of Somalia where two Cuban doctors who were abducted from Mandera in April are said to be held.