A suicide bomber has seriously injured the mayor of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, killing at least six other people.

The female bomber blew herself up inside the office of Mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman during a security meeting. Militant Islamist group al-Shabab says it carried out the attack, hoping to target the new UN special envoy to Somalia, James Swan, a US citizen.

But he had met the mayor earlier, leaving before the blast occurred.

It is unclear how the bomber managed to enter the heavily guarded building.

The victims, five men and one woman, were all government officials, Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Mareyey told the Media.