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Somali militant group denies role in suicide bomb
“We had nothing to do with the attack and we are very sad about it,” said al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage.
He blamed the government for carrying out the attack. Somalia’s prime minister has strongly condemned the bombing, saying it was an outrage to kill those “whose only aim in life was to help those most in need in our stricken country.”
Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for past suicide attacks in Somalia, and has never denied carrying out an attack. But militant groups tend to distance themselves from bombings that kill large numbers of civilians -- attacks that could draw popular outrage.
The bombing of a graduation ceremony for medical students and other graduates in a country that needs as many doctors as it can get drew swift condemnation from around the world.
Extremist militants in Somalia have shown a rising ability to carry out sophisticated large-scale bombings against high-profile targets. The bombing also highlighted the inability of Somalia’s weak government to protect even the small section of the capital it controls.
African troops protecting the weak Somali government wage near daily battles with extremist militants who hold much of central and southern Somalia. The government holds only a few square blocks in Mogadishu, though that didn’t prevent Thursday’s suicide bomber from gaining entry into the ceremony.
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.
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