watch MOGADISHU, Somalia – A suicide bomber disguised as a woman attacked a graduation ceremony in Somalia on Thursday, turning a rare reason to celebrate into carnage that killed at least 25 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 with their hands 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.The bomb exploded about a yard from journalists covering the event."The explosion occurred really close to me, about a meter away. I jumped over some of the dead people laying on the ground and I went outside," said Associated Press reporter Mohamed Olad Hassan...more.. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/178486/22-die-as-suicide-bomber-hits-somali-graduation
Thursday, December 3, 2009
25 die as suicide bomber hits Somali graduation, Somalia leader deplores deadly suicide bomb explosion in Mogadishu ..
watch MOGADISHU, Somalia – A suicide bomber disguised as a woman attacked a graduation ceremony in Somalia on Thursday, turning a rare reason to celebrate into carnage that killed at least 25 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 with their hands 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.The bomb exploded about a yard from journalists covering the event."The explosion occurred really close to me, about a meter away. I jumped over some of the dead people laying on the ground and I went outside," said Associated Press reporter Mohamed Olad Hassan...more.. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/178486/22-die-as-suicide-bomber-hits-somali-graduation
No comments:
Post a Comment