At least five people were killed when a minibus laden with explosives blew up in Mogadishu on Tuesday, a local official said, the latest attack in the troubled Somali capital. wThe blast occurred at a checkpoint just 500 metres from the presidential palace just as the country’s new Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheyre unveiled his government’s line-up.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab has been blamed for a string of attacks in Mogadishu.

As well as insecurity, Somalia is also battling famine, with three million going hungry because of a drought that is also affecting other parts of Africa.

At least 26 people died from hunger in the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region of southern Somalia in just a day an a half, federal government radio said on its website.