http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/12/2009123125820200164.html
Thursday, December 03, 2009
17:54 Mecca time, 14:54 GMT
Ministers killed in Somalia blast
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At least 19 people have been killed including three government ministers
after an explosion ripped through the Shamo Hotel in Mogadishu, the Somali
capital, during a graduation ceremony.
A suicide bomber disguised as a woman carried out Thursday's attack at
the hotel during a crowded graduation ceremony for medical students from a
local university, Dahir Mohamud Gelle, the Somali information minister, said.
Witnesses said the attack appeared to have targeted government officials.
Of the three ministers killed in the blast, one was a woman - Qamar Aden
Ali, the health minister. Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the minister for higher
education, and Ahmed Abdullahi Wayel, the minister for education, also died.
Also among the dead were two journalists and two professors. At least 50
students were reportedly injured.
Ministers 'targeted'
Saleban Olad Roble, the Somali sports minister, was also injured in the
explosion.
IN DEPTH
Timeline: Somalia
Restoring Somalia
A long road to stability
Al-Shabab: Somali fighters undeterred
Somalia at a crossroads
Somaliland: Africa's isolated state
What next for Somalia?
Who are al-Shabab?
Riz Khan: The vanishing Somalis
Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based television network, said Hasan al-Zubair, one
of its cameramen, had also been killed in the explosion.
The death toll is expected to rise.
Mohammed Ali Nur, the Somali ambassador to Kenya, told Al Jazeera: "Three
of our ministers have been killed and our sport minsiter is in critical
condition. In addition, 19 students have been killed and 40 other deaths have
yet to be confirmed.
"What we understand is that someone blew himself up at the ceremony and
the attack aimed to target government officials. We appeal to the international
community to help our country in this time of need," he said.
Gelle said the bomber had been dressed in women's clothing, "complete
with a veil and a female's shoes".
'National disaster'
He told the Associated Press news agency that officials had a photograph
of the man.
"What happened today is a national disaster," Gelle said.
Witnesses said the suicide attack appeared to have targeted
government officials [Reuters]
Mohamed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Kenya, said:
"Reports say that a man who dressed as a woman managed to pass through security
checkpoints and enter the hallways of the hotel where he detonated himself as
the ceremony was taking place."
The African Union (AU) said the "inhumane and cowardly attack would not
deter the resolve and determination of the African Union to support the people
of Somalia in their quest for peace and reconciliation".
Suspicion for the blast immediately fell on the al-Shabab group, which
killed Somalia's security minister and at least 30 other people in the central
town of Baladwayne in June.
"There has been no claims of responsibility for the explosion, but it has
the hallmarks of al-Shabab which has so far been carrying out attacks over
recent months," Adow said.
Al-Shabab and other anti-government groups regularly attack government
troops and AU peacekeepers, in efforts to force them out of the country.
Al-Shabab and allied groups control much of southern and central Somalia
and want to impose their version of sharia (Islamic law) in the country.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when Mohamed Siad
Barre was overthrown by armed groups who then turned on each other.
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