New Somali President Unharmed after Mogadishu Blasts

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was unharmed after two blasts claimed by Shebab extremists rocked the Mogadishu hotel where he was staying Wednesday, the African Union mission to Somalia said.

"There has been a blast around the hotel where the president was. The president is safe. All the people who were inside the hotel are safe," Colonel Ali Houmed, a spokesman for the force, told AFP.

Somalia's Al-Qaida linked Shebab extremists claimed the attack.

"We are responsible for the attack against the so-called president and the delegation," Shebab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP.

A source at the Kenyan foreign affairs ministry said Kenyan Foreign Minister Sam Ongeri and other Kenyan MPs were meeting with Hassan Sheikh Mahmud at the time of the explosion and that they had all been evacuated.

The attack comes just two days after the new Somali president was elected.