Ministers die in Somali graduation blast
19 people, including government ministers, die in suicide attack in Mogadishu, Somalia
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Thursday, 03, Dec 2009 05:44
By Matthew Champion.
Government ministers are believed to have been the target of a suicide bomber who blew himself up during a graduation ceremony in the Somali capital.
At least 19 people died in the attack, al-Jazeera said, with more than 50 wounded. The death-toll is expected to rise overnight.
Three government ministers were killed in the blast at the Shamo Hotel in central Mogadishu, as well as two professors, two journalists and nine students.
Education minister Abdullahi Wayel, health minister Qamar Aden and higher education minister Ibrahim Hassan Adow all died when a bomber believed to have disguised himself as a woman blew himself up.
Sports minister Suleman Olad Roble is in hospital from wounds sustained in the attack.
According to al-Jazeera, suspicion has fallen on the al-Shabab group which controls large parts of southern and central Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991 when its last president Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown.
Since then the armed groups that took his place have been fighting among themselves.