Soldiers carry the body of the chairman of Somali football federation Said Mugabe after an explosion at the national theater in Mogadishu, April 4, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Two of Somalia's top sports officials were killed when a female suicide bomber struck a ceremony at Mogadishu's national theater in an attack Islamist rebels said was aimed at assassinating government ministers.

Aden Yabarow Wiish, the Somali Olympic Committee chairman, and Said Mohamed Nurand, the president of the Somali Football Federation, had died, while the deputy at the Olympic committee and the chairman for Somali boxing were both injured during the blast.

"The government sent us four invitation cards. And of the four officials who went, two are dead and the other two injured. It is a black day," Kadija Dahir Aden, acting president of Somali athletics, said.

Al Shabaab insurgents later claimed responsibility for the blast leaving at least six death and 12 wounded on Wednesday.

The bombing was an apparent attempt to kill the prime minister as he spoke at an event to mark the first anniversary of the country's new satellite television channel.  

While the al Qaeda-allied militants pulled their fighters out of the capital last August, they have struck targets regularly in the heart of the coastal city using roadside bombs, mortars and suicide bombers.

A soldier guarding the newly opened theater said the bomber had been stopped but the premier's security team had insisted she be allowed in because she was carrying police ID.    

"The suicide bomber was a young, slim lady with plaited hair. She wore a veil and carried a police identity card," said the soldier Mohamed Ali.   

FIFA shoccked

Sepp Blatter, president of soccer's governing body FIFA, said in a statement that he was shocked by the killings.

"I knew both men personally and can only say good things about their endless efforts to promote sport and football in their country. They will be sorely missed," he said.

The International Olympic Committee also expressed its shock, saying: "Both men were engaged in improving the lives of Somalian people through sport and we strongly condemn such an act of barbarism."

Somalia hopes to send two athletes to the London 2012 Olympics. Five athletes have been training in a dilapidated Mogadishu stadium and often run through the city's rutted streets patrolled by Africa Union armoured vehicles.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would welcome the Somali athletes to the London Olympics "and stand with them in memory of their very sad loss".