By Reuters Staff

       1 Min Read

       GAROWE, Somalia (Reuters) - An explosive planted on a bus carrying soccer players in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo killed at least five players, a police officer said on Friday.

       “We have confirmed five deaths and more than 12 injuries and we still have some players missing,” Captain Ahmed Farah told Reuters by telephone from Kismayo.

       It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on Friday evening.

       President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s office on its twitter account the president had sent condolences and put the blame on al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents for the explosion.

       Al Shabaab, which wants to unseat the central government and impose its harsh interpretation of Islamic sharia law, frequently carries out gun and bomb attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.

       Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Dan Grebler

       Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.