Somali prime minister survives grenade attack

Story Highlights

• Grenades thrown at Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's convoy fail to explode
• One suspect arrested, a second escapes
• Militant Islamist insurgents have threatened Iraq-style attacks.

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MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi survived an attempt on his life in central Mogadishu Thursday when grenades thrown at his convoy failed to explode, a government spokesman said.

A bodyguard arrested one man allegedly involved in the attack, and that person is being questioned, according to Abbi Haji Goobdoon. A second man escaped.

The Somalian capital has been a persistent hotbed of violence spawned by fighting between Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's transitional government forces and remnant fighters from the ousted Islamic Courts Union.

On Wednesday a roadside bomb in Mogadishu killed four African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and a civilian, Reuters reported. Militant Islamist insurgents have threatened Iraq-style attacks. (Full story)

From Journalist Mohamed Amiin.