3 Somali Cabinet ministers killed in explosion at graduation ceremony; 9 killed overall

Somalia explosion kills 9, including 3 ministers

MOGADISHU, Somalia — An explosion ripped through an upscale hotel in Somalia’s capital Thursday during a university graduation ceremony, killing nine people, including three Cabinet ministers and two journalists.

The blast raised new questions about the ability of Somalia’s weak government to control even the small area of the capital it holds. African troops protecting the government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who control much of central and southern Somalia.

More than three dozen students had gathered to receive their diplomas at the ceremony at the Shamow Hotel, which sits in the small patch of Mogadishu that is held by Somalia’s government.

“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. The ministers for sports and tourism were wounded.

Two journalists also were killed and two wounded. Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said its Somali cameraman, Hassan Zubeir, died. A second Somali reporter working for a local media outlet also died, said Bashir Khalif, a reporter for the Somali government’s radio service.

In total, nine people died, said Col. Abdullahi Hassan Barise, a police spokesman.

Several hundred people had gathered inside a decorated ballroom in the Shamow Hotel to celebrate the graduations of the medical, computer science and engineering students from Benadir University. The school was established in 2002 by a group of Somali doctors who wanted to promote higher education in a country where physicians have become the victims of the seemingly endless violence.

Attendees were sitting on plastic chairs facing a small stage when the explosion went off.

No officials could immediately confirm the cause of the blast. An Associated Press reporter attending the ceremony said that the explosion did not appear to be caused by a mortar blast because the roof remained intact, suggesting the blast was caused by a bomb planted in the hotel or possibly by a suicide bomber.

Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. A moderate Islamist was elected president in January in hopes that he could unite the country’s feuding factions, but the violence has continued unabated.

In October, insurgents fired mortars at the airport as the president was boarding a plane, sparking battles that killed at least 24 people. Witnesses said mortars also were fired toward the airport around the time the president returned from his trip.

And in September, Islamic insurgents posing as U.N. personnel detonated suicide car bombs in an African Union peacekeeping base, killing 21 people.

Somalia’s lawlessness has spread security fears around region and raised concerns that al-Qaida is trying to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa. The anarchy has also allowed piracy to flourish off the country’s coast.

The president of Benadir University said 43 students were taking part in the graduation ceremony Thursday. The university’s Web site says the school has more than 500 students and “strives to establish an open system of innovation and critical thinking similar to that in the developed countries.”

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. There are 37 ministers in Somalia’s government, according to a Web site on the Somali government kept by the CIA.