Amina Mohamed, a vocal critic of the government, was killed by a suicide bomber in the city of Beledweyne, around 300 km (185 miles) north of Mogadishu, witnesses and relatives said.

“Police in #Beledweyne town launched operations to secure the town after terrorist suicide bombings had killed 15 people last night,” state-run Somali National Television said on its Twitter account.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Somalia is conducting parliamentary elections in an indirect process that involves clan elders picking the 275 members of the lower house, who then choose a new president on a date yet to be fixed.

In a statement late on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble said Wednesday’s killings were aimed at disrupting the elections.

Data from the election commission shows that the election of 246 lawmakers has so far been completed, ahead of an April 15 deadline.

(Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Nick Macfie)