Suicide bomber kills 7 near Somali PM's home

MOGADISHU, June 3 (Reuters) A suicide bomber in a car killed seven people near the home of Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi in the capital Mogadishu today, but he was unhurt, security sources and witnesses said.

''I saw limbs nearly a kilometre from where the suicide bomber detonated,'' a police officer at the scene told Reuters by telephone.

''Prime Minister Gedi was unhurt. The vehicle exploded outside the gate of his house,'' he said. ''We don't how the suicide bomber managed to pass through undetected .. The wounded cannot be counted.'' A security source close to the prime minister said seven people were killed, including five soldiers guarding the residence.

The blast flattened other buildings in the area.

Gedi's interim administration is struggling to impose its authority on the anarchic Horn of Africa nation. Near daily attacks on government troops and their Ethiopian military allies are blamed on remnants of a defeated Islamist movement who have vowed to wage an ''Iraq-style'' insurgency.

Another witness at the scene said an Islamic school was among the buildings damaged in the explosion. ''No one knows what happened to the children inside,'' he said.

REUTERS ABM RK2150