Somali President Survives Assassin

(Somali couple walk past a destroyed car after an explosion in Baidoa, Somalia).

Somalia's president narrowly escaped an assassination attempt Monday by a suicide car bomber outside the parliament building, officials said. The blast and a subsequent gun battle left 11 people dead, including the president's brother.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Baidoa, the only town controlled by the government. But if it is linked to an Islamic militia that has seized control of much of southern Somalia, it could cause peace talks between the two sides to fall apart.

"It was definitely a suicide bombing," Foreign Minister Ismail Mohamed Hurre told The Associated Press in Nairobi, Kenya, saying it was clear from the state of the attacker's remains.

(The Associated Press)

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