A large blast killed two civilians in Mogadishu on Monday close to the venue for a planned peace conference that has already been delayed twice over security fears, police said.
"The explosion happened as some government officials were passing, but they survived. However, two civilians were killed on the spot," Abdullahi Hassan Bariise, Somali police head of operations, told Reuters Television.
Monday's blast - the latest in a string of guerrilla-style strikes against the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies - came when an unknown attacker detonated a landmine by remote control as government vehicles passed.
Mogadishu's deputy mayor in charge of security, Abdifatah Ibrahim Omar, told Reuters two children were wounded in the explosion, which missed its intended target. It was unclear if those two were the victims later confirmed dead by police.