Eight feared dead as Al-Shabaab target Somali PresidentBy ABDULKADIR KHALIF in Mogadishu | Wednesday, September 12   2012 at  17:15

Up to eight people are feared dead in the latest spate of attacks in Mogadishu.

The dead include three suicide bombers.

Already Al-Shabaab have claimed responsibility in an attack at Jazeera Hotel where the newly elected Somali President, Prof Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, was meeting with a Kenyan delegation led by the country's Foreign Minister, Prof Sam Ongeri.

The hotel is a new building near Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport, where President Mohamoud has been staying since his election on Monday.

The President, Somali officials and the members of the Kenyan delegation are reportedly safe.

In October 2011, a Kenyan delegation also visiting Mogadishu coincided with a suicide bombing mission.

Kenya has contributed hundreds of troops to African Union Peacekeeping in Somalia, battling the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab militants.

Two attempts by suicide bombers were intercepted by peacekeepers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and Somali security agents.

Security officers told Raadiyo Muqdisho, a state run broadcaster, that one suspected bomber was intercepted as tried to enter the hotel.

Guards that included Amisom peacekeepers fired, killing the attacker at the gate, leaving the body lying with unexploded suicide belt on.

“A second would-be bomber in a car exploded before reaching the gate of the hotel,” said a Raadiyo Muqdisho reporter based at the hotel.

Unconfirmed report stated that three soldiers died and several others were wounded in the first suicide attempt.