A Somali minister has been killed in a suicide bomb attack by his own niece, government officials confirmed Saturday, DPA reported.
Interior Minister Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan Farah was killed by the blast set off by his niece when she came to visit him at his home late Friday to discuss her university course.
The minister survived the initial explosion, was rushed to the Banadir hospitl, but died later of his injuries, officials said.
The niece was also killed in the blast, police spokesman Captain Hassan Hohamed told German Press Agency dpa.
The group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the minister "an apostate."
Al-Shabab commander Sheikh Abdikarim Abdullahi Yusuf told dpa "We will continue to kill Christians and apostate officials."
Somalia has been effectively a failed state since its last formal government was toppled in 1991, with two decades of civil strife and marauding militias making the east African state one of the most dangerous in the world.