NAIROBI, Nov. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations on Monday condemned the assassination attempt against Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi in Mogadishu on Sunday which resulted in the death of five people.

    Francois Lonseny Fall, the UN Secretary-General's special representative for Somalia, called Gedi immediately after learningof the attack and expressed relief that the prime minister had escaped unharmed from the assault on his convoy, according to a statement from the UN Political Office for Somalia.

    "Ambassador Fall, who is in New York this week to brief the Security Council on the situation in Somalia, also expressed his condolences to the prime minister and to the families of those who were killed or injured in the attack," said the statement.

    The UN envoy's deputy, Babafemi Badejo, said he was relieved the Gedi had escaped harm, but saddened by the loss of life and injuries suffered by those in his entourage.

    "These continued acts of violence are to be condemned. They arean assault on the peace process and on the hopes of the Somali people for an end to 14 years of insecurity," he said.

    Gedi escaped unharmed Sunday in an explosion which killed at least five people in Mogadishu. The blast occurred close to a convoy of vehicles carrying the prime minister from an airstrip to the center of the city after he arrived at the start of a visit tothe lawless capital.

    In May this year, seven people were killed and several injured when a bomb in Mogadishu's soccer stadium exploded 10 yards from where the prime minister was seated.

    In late July, Somalia's transitional government was settled in the town of Jowhar, which has been serving as the war-torn country's temporary capital.

    Somalia has been without a stable government since clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. The warlords then turned on each other, plunging the Horn of Africa country into chaos. Enditem