Suicide attack kills 19 in Somalia

I tried to comment but am at a loss for words. Somali are genuinely a peaceful people. They have been infected by the virus of radical faith. It's hard to say anything more. I have not been in Mogadishu for a long time; it looks like I won't be returning soon... .

Mogadishu, (Somalia): A male suicide bomber dressed as a woman attacked a university graduation ceremony on Thursday in a small part of the capital still under government control, killing up to 19 people, including three Cabinet ministers and three journalists.

The attack was a severe blow to a country long battered by war and underscored the government's tenuous hold on even a small area of the capital.

African Union peacekeeping troops protecting the government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who hold much of central and southern Somalia and act so brazenly in the capital that the carry out public executions.
"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 also wounded in the attack inside the Shamo Hotel, he said.

The assailants hit one of Somalia's most important efforts to extricate itself from anarchy and violence, explaining the presence of so many top government officials. The former medical students among the graduates came from only the second class to receive diplomas from the medical school.
The first class graduated a year ago. Before then, almost two decades has passed since anyone earned a medical degree in Somalia.

In the December 2008 ceremony, held at the same hotel, the graduates proudly hoisted diplomas into the air. This year, there was mayhem as the bomb went off among 43 graduates, their families and officials who were sitting on plastic chairs facing a small stage, leaving the dead and wounded in bloody heaps.

More than 40 people were wounded. Students and doctors were among the dead.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell upon the militant group al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida, controls much of the country and has carried out past suicide attacks.
"A man who disguised himself as a woman, complete with a veil and a female's shoes, is behind the explosion," Gelle said. "We even have his picture."

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said its Somali cameraman, Hassan Zubeir, died. Two other Somali journalists working for local outlets also died, said Bashir Khalif, a reporter for the Somali government's radio service.
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