A suicide bomber blew himself up in a military camp in the Somali town of Galkayo on Saturday, killing four officers, officials said, an attack claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group.
The camp houses a force made up of soldiers from the country's semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Galmudug who have been integrated into the federal army under efforts to unite the fractured country.
The dead included a military commander and two colonels, Galkayo's mayor, Hirsi Yusuf Barre, told Reuters.
"The death toll may rise," police officer Abdirahman Haji said.
Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the extremist group killed five people in the attack.
Since withdrawing from Mogadishu in 2011, the group has lost control of most of Somalia's cities and towns. But it still retains a strong presence in regions outside the capital.
