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At least two people have died in a suicide attack at a compound housing the offices of Somalia's president and prime minister, officials say.

Dozens were also wounded when the bomber blew himself at a checkpoint near the office of Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon in the capital Mogadishu.

The prime minister and president are said to be unharmed.

Both men took office following elections last September deemed to be the first fair such vote for 42 years.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, an academic and civic activist, beat the incumbent in a run-off vote by MPs to become president.

He then appointed his close associate, former businessman Abdi Farah Shirdon as prime minister.

Continued threat

The attacker detonated his explosives when he was questioned at a checkpoint into the Villa Somalia, a sprawling compound that houses both the president's and prime minister's offices, officials said.

The target was Mr Shirdon's office, they said.

One report on Somali radio said that the dead included one of Mr Shirdon's bodyguards and the suicide bomber. Other reports have put the death toll as high as six.

No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The new government is trying to rebuild the country after 20 years of conflict.

One of its biggest challenges is the al-Qaeda-aligned Islamist group, al-Shabab, which still controls large areas of rural southern and central Somalia.

The BBC's Abdullahi Abdi, reporting from Kenya, says that suicide attacks have decreased in Mogadishu since the withdrawal of al-Shabab from the city in August 2011.

But the latest attack shows that the Islamist militants still pose a threat to the city's security, he adds.

--BBC