“Military General Mohamed Roble Jimale and at least seven of his bodyguards died,” said police colonel Abdikadir Farah, Citizen TV reported.
Farah said the suspected car bomb hit the vehicle in which the general, also known by the name Goobaanle, was travelling. Many Somalis have a nickname often as commonly used as their proper name.
Another police officer blamed Shabab militant group for the attack.
Somalia's Andalus radio, which is linked to al Shabaab, said a member of the group was killed during the suicide car bomb attack." It said further details would follow later.
Al Shabaab, which once ruled much of Somalia, wants to topple the Western-backed government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who is seeking re-election in the upcoming vote.
Voting for the 275-seat parliament is scheduled to start on Sept. 25 and end on Oct. 10, with new lawmakers sworn in on Oct. 30. Those lawmakers will, in turn, pick a president on Oct. 30.
Due to security concerns, including the continuing al Shabaab insurgency, voting will not be based on one-person-one-vote but instead about 14,000 people representing federal states across the nation will choose members of the legislative assembly.
That is a fraction of Somalia's 11 million people, but is more than the 135 elders who picked the outgoing parliament in 2012, FNA reported.
219-11