CEOAFRICA.com received a report that the Somalia’s President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, escaped from being killed by whiskers when a bomb exploded near his convoy few hours ago.

Sources said militant al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted to an affiliate website.

An improvised explosive device went off as the president's convoy was traveling to the southern Somali town of Merca, about 110 kilometers south of Mogadishu. Immediately the bomb exploded, gun shots filled the air and it was gathered that one Somali soldier was wounded in the attack, although the President remain unhurt.  

African Union and Ethiopian forces have driven al-Shabab out of Somalia's major cities but the group continues to control rural areas and carries out periodic attacks.

Further findings affirmed that the current government, which came to power in a U.N.-backed process last year, has been Somalia's most stable government since the fall of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.