Four Somali Ministers Killed in Suicide Bombing

At least 19 people including four Somali government ministers were killed by a suicide bomber as they attended a graduation ceremony in the war torn country’s capital, Mogadishu.

Witnesses said the bomber entered the function at the Shamo Hotel dressed as a veiled woman and sat listening to the speeches for some time before approaching the podium and blasting himself up.

The deceased ministers include Ibrahim Hassan Adow, Saleban Olad Robe, Qamar Aden Ali and Dr. Mohamed Aden – all cabinet members in the country’s UN-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

The students who died in the attack were graduates of Mogadishu’s Banadir University.

This attack is the worst Somalia has seen since last June, when the Islamist Al Shabaab insurgents killed the TFG Security minister and at least 30 other people in another hotel suicide bombing in the town of Baladwayne.

Al Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but speculation is rife that they could be behind it.[ES]