Bombing kills 3 Somali ministers

MOGADISHU: A suicide bomber dressed as a woman attacked a graduation ceremony on Thursday in a small part of the capital still under government control, killing 22 people, including three Cabinet ministers, doctors and medical students.

The blast is the most serious attack on the transitional federal government (TFG) since the launch of an Al-Qaeda-inspired insurgency that has brought new strife to the Horn of Africa nation.

The African Union force in Somalia, AMISOM, said: “A suicide bomber detonated an explosion inside Hotel Shamo during the graduation ceremony of medical students of the Banadir University resulting in the deaths of 22 civilians and injuries to several others.”

More than 60 people were injured in the blast, some of them seriously. They were taken to Madinah Hospital in the south of the capital, Duniyo Ali Mohamoud, a doctor working there, said.

Several ministers from the UN-backed government were attending the ceremony when the explosion went off. Most of the victims were students.

“What happened today is a national disaster,” said Somali Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle, who confirmed that the ministers for education, higher education and health were killed in the blast. Gelle said 22 people and the suicide bomber died.

A hotel security official said the suicide bomber was probably among the guests. The head of an NGO operating in Mogadishu said the bomber was dressed as a woman.

Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow and Health Minister Qamar Aden were killed on the spot and Education Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Waayel died shortly after the blast, a senior government official said.

Sports Minister Suleyman Olad Roble was among the injured.

Two journalists, one from Shabele Radio and another from Al Arabiya television were also killed, a source at the hotel said. “This barbaric act shows how violent people are trying to massacre innocents,” Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur, speaker of the Somali Parliament, told reporters. The next session of Parliament, set for Saturday, had been canceled, he said.

“Everybody in the university is crying, no one expected that such a tragedy would follow the graduation ceremony,” said Abdiweli Mohamed, whose brother was among the dead. An AFP photographer sustained slight injuries.

“We were waiting outside the conference room when there was a huge explosion. I found myself on the ground in the middle of the smoke and screaming,” he said.

“I went to get my camera, and that’s when I saw the bodies of the three ministers.”

New EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the bombing and promised to seek a coordinated international response to Somalia’s woes.

“I condemn in the strongest terms possible this cowardly attack against civilians including students, doctors and journalists,” Ashton said in a statement. Spain’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the attack. In Kampala, the acting head of AMISOM, Wafula Wamunyini, said the attack “was intended to intimidate and blackmail the TFG.”

Somali insurgents launched a fresh offensive against the transitional government on May 7 and clashes since then have left more than 250 dead while an estimated 120,000 people have fled the city. The Al-Shabaab militia has vowed to bring down the government and force all African Union peacekeepers out of the country.

Somalia has had no effective government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was forced out of power in the early 1990s.

Thousands have been killed in Mogadishu in recent years as insurgents battle for control of the capital. They control large swathes of Mogadishu as well as much of the center and south of the country.

The transitional government only exists with the backing of the 5,000 AU peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda.

At least 60 peacekeepers have been killed since they were deployed in March 2007.