A senior Islamist official escaped an assassination attempt after twin explosions hit a mosque killing 28 and wounding more than 50 others in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Saturday, witnesses and medical sources reported.

The explosions took place at the Abdalla Shideye mosque in Bakara Market frequented by officials of the anti-government al Shabaab. The mosque was packed with worshipers at the time of the blasts.

The group's senior leader Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, who was at the mosque at the time, might be the target of the attack, according to witnesses.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack on the mosque, the first of its kind at a place of worship in Somalia.

Al Shabaab is linked to al Qaeda and Khalaf is one of the officials under international sanctions. He was recently put on a list of Islamist Somali leaders under U. S. sanctions, including the freeze on overseas assets.

The group is waging a deadly insurgency attack on the Somali government and African Union peacekeepers backing the Somali government.

The moderate Islamist militias, the Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaca, recently struck a power-sharing deal with the government. This week it vowed to start fighting al Shabaab inside their strongholds in Mogadishu.

Ahlu Sunnah has been fighting the al Shabaab group in the central Somali regions where they control several important districts.

Al Shabaab, seen as a terrorist entity, controls much of the southern and central parts of Somalia. It has been fighting to topple the internationally recognized Somali government and establish an Islamic state in the Horn of Africa country.

Somalia has been without a central government for the past two decades.