Al-Qaeda-linked suicide bombers target Somalia's new president MOGADISHU, Somalia - Al-Qaeda-linked militants, wearing explosive belts, targeted Somalia's new president during a news conference Wednesday in an apparent assassination attempt to derail the country's efforts at a peaceful political transition. President Hassan Sheik Mohamud and Kenyan Foreign Minister Sam Ongeri, who was visiting Mogadishu, escaped unharmed, but the brazen afternoon assault left at least seven people dead, including three of the attackers, and several others injured. Via its official Twitter handle, Somalia's al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, writing, "a number of enemies killed at the venue." The attack highlighted the immense security challenges facing Somalia, even as African Union forces have pushed the hard-line militia from the capital and other parts of the country. It came two days after Mohamud, an academic and civic activist, was elected by Somali lawmakers to lead this war-torn nation in its first presidential vote in decades. Shortly after 2 p.m, an explosion rocked the street outside the Jazeera Palace Hotel, located near the international airport and fortified compounds of the United Nations and the African Union forces. The blast was followed by heavy gunfire at the entrance gate of the hotel, where the news conference was being held. A Washington Post reporter witnessed a soldier kill one of the attackers inside the compound; the attacker's explosives did not detonate. The body of a security guard was nearby, blood seeping from his corpse. Three other bodies were outside the gate, and next to them was the left leg of what appeared to be one of the suicide bombers. A few feet away was a severed head that was picked up by an ambulance worker. About 71 / 2 minutes after the first blast, a second explosion erupted a few yards down the street, creating a crater. Inside it, another severed head lay near shards of mangled metal from nearby cars. "First and foremost, we will address the security issue," Mohamud told reporters minutes after the blasts. Priority number one is security, and priority number two and priority number three. In a statement, the African Union force, known as AMISOM, said one of its soldiers was killed and three others were wounded. Somalia has been consumed by war and lawlessness since 1991, when the central government of then-President Mohamed Siad Barre collapsed. Two years later, mobs dragged the bodies of U.S. soldiers through Mogadishu during a U.N. peacekeeping mission, an event depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down."