Doctor returns to Somalia to bury sister and possibly fill her post as health minister.

Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune

Dr. Mohamed Aden Ali

A Somali surgeon who has built a comfortable life in Minneapolis now feels a pull back to his homeland to carry on for his sister, who was killed this month in a suicide bombing.In his last conversation with his sister in Somalia, Dr. Mohamed Aden Ali spoke as the protective older brother.

"Be careful," he told her softly over the phone.

Seven hours later, Qamar Aden Ali, his kid sister and Somalia's minister of health, was dead, one of 24 people killed by a suicide bomber at a graduation ceremony for medical students. Her death and talk that Ali may be asked to succeed her as Somalia's health minister puts him at an emotional crossroads: Should he stay safe in Minneapolis or go back to Somalia and take up his sister's cause?"The choice of taking this risk is very high," Ali said. "I can decide only after I go to Somalia."Ali has not seen his native Somalia since 1993, when he returned to help his mother flee the civil war. A surgeon in Somalia, he built a comfortable life in the Twin Cities as the head of a home health care agency and the chief executive officer of the Somali Health Professionals Association.For now, he's intent on going to Somalia for just two to three weeks to take part in family ceremonies to remember his sister. Unless, he says, something changes his mind.Growing up in Mogadishu, he and Qamar were like twins, he says. They were just one year apart.They were together always, playing and fighting as siblings do. But if anyone else laid a hand on his sister, he would step in to protect her.Sometimes when Ali would head out for a soccer game, Qamar would grab onto him, clutching at his clothes to try to make him stay, he said.The memories brought a smile to his face Friday in his south Minneapolis office as he talked proudly about his sister's legacy.Qamar was born in a small village west of Mogadishu, the third of 11 children. She graduated from college in Somalia and traveled to then-East Germany to study political science. Later, she went to London to attend law school and became a lawyer.ndell Harkness, Star Tribune

A Somali man who was injured in a suicide bomb attack at a university graduation.

Mohamed Dahir, Getty/afp - Afp/getty Images

Somali Minister of Health Qamar Adan Ali