Mogadishu — Abdikarin Hussein Guled, Somalia's interior minister has escaped unscathed from an ambush by Al-Shabab fighters during a visit to the Al-Qaeda-linked group's former stronghold of Marko, 110 Km (68 miles) south of Mogadishu, reports said.

Ahmed was making a rare trip out of Mogadishu on Monday when the convoy was attacked by Al shabab in the outskirts of Shalanbod town, the Afgoye corridor, a key road about 90km north of the capital.

Nearly 10 Somali soldiers were killed in the attack but Mr.Guled was able to continue his trip, a Somali security official said.

A roadside bomb destroyed one of vehicles carrying the internal affairs minister sped off as soon as the face-to-face fighting began.

The minister was traveling from Marko back to Mogadishu, the Somali capital on Monday. The armoured convoy was guarded by African Union troops and Somali government soldiers, who seized Marko, the port city in southern Somalia last year without a battle with Al shabab.