Blast Kills 22 at Somalia Graduation: Medical Students, Doctors, Officials Among Dead

The Associated Press, Dec 4, 2009

MOGADISHU, Somalia —

A suicide bomber disguised as a woman attacked a graduation ceremony Thursday, turning a rare reason to celebrate into carnage that killed at least 22 people — including medical students, doctors and three government ministers.

The blast was blamed on Islamic militants who have shown a rising ability to carry out sophisticated, large-scale bombings against high-profile targets — and highlighted the inability of Somalia's weak government to protect even the small section of the capital it controls.

"Today should have been a day of celebration — not mourning," said Somalia's ambassador to Kenya, Mohamed Ali Nur. "The hopes of many parents who eagerly awaited their sons' graduation were recklessly dashed … cutting short the lives of ambitious Somalis."

Several hundred people had gathered in the Shamo Hotel to watch the 43 medical, engineering and computer-science students from Benadir University receive their diplomas when the blast ripped through the festively decorated ballroom.

Amateur video of the attack obtained by AP Television News showed the dead, including at least three journalists, lying in pools of blood amid the sound of wails and screams from the wounded. Soldiers, their AK-47 rifles slung over their shoulders, picked through the wreckage as survivors climbed over the debris of the bombed-out room.

The attack targeted one of Somalia's most important efforts to extricate itself from anarchy and violence, explaining the presence of so many top government officials.

The graduating medical students were only the second class to receive diplomas from the medical school.

"The loss of our ministers is disastrous, but it is an outrage to target the graduation of medical students and kill those whose only aim in life was to help those most in need in our stricken country," Somali Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke said.

Before last year's graduation, almost two decades had passed since anyone earned a medical degree in Somalia. At the December 2008 ceremony, graduates proudly hoisted their diplomas into the air.

This year, there was mayhem as the bomb went off while a Somali official addressed the gathering, sending metal shards and other debris flying and leaving dead and wounded in bloody heaps.

Sharmarke said it was "beneath contempt" to attack and kill students and called for urgent help from the international community to prevent the further rise of al-Shabab.
 

"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 among the 46 wounded, he said.

Twenty-two people were killed, along with the suicide bomber, Gelle said. The bomber "disguised himself as a woman, complete with a veil and a female's shoes," he said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell upon al-Shabab, which controls much of the country and has carried out suicide attacks.

Al-Shabaab denies Somalia hotel blast

UPI, Dec. 4, 2009 at 9:14 AM

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Dec. 4 (UPI) --

The Somali Islamic group al-Shabaab denied responsibility for the deadly hotel bombing in Mogadishu, blaming the government instead, the group's spokesman said.

Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said the government was responsible for Thursday's blast at Hotel Shamo that killed at least 22 people, including students, government ministers and journalists, the BBC reported Friday. More than 60 people were wounded.

"We declare that al-Shabaab did not mastermind that explosion," Rage said. "We believe it is a plot by the government itself. It is not in the nature of al-Shabaab to target innocent people."

Presidential spokesman Hassan Haile had told the BBC Thursday he thought al-Shabaab masterminded the attack during a graduation ceremony.

Rage said some government officials were seen leaving the hotel before the bomb exploded, leading to the belief "that they were behind the killing."

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed described the attack as a "national disaster," the British broadcaster reported.

He called the victims "dear citizens ... unjustly assassinated while carrying out their duty to the nation."

The blast occurred during a ceremony for medical students graduating from Benadir University.