MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A landmine blast killed Mogadishu mayor's spokesman on Saturday in the latest attack by Islamist rebels on government authorities in the anarchic capital, officials said.

"Mohamed Muhuyidin Ali was standing on the sidewalk waiting for his car and then all of a sudden a huge landmine blast occurred," Abas Mohamed Nur, the spokesman's deputy, told Reuters by telephone.

"He was wounded by shrapnel and he was rushed to a hospital, where he died," he added.

Several local officials of Somalia's transitional government have been killed by Islamist-led rebels since the beginning of this year.

Somalia has been mired in lawlessness since warlords ousted dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. The transitional government is the country's 14th attempt at restoring central government since then.