NAIROBI, 7 December 2009 (IRIN) - Somalia's Transitional Federal Government has set up a team to investigate the bombing of a graduation ceremony on 3 December, which killed scores of people, including three cabinet ministers.

"We have set up a team of security experts to investigate the bombing and report back within five days," said Abdulkadir Ali Omar, the Minister of Interior.

Omar said the government had leads into who the perpetrators were but "will withhold naming them until the investigation is complete".

The attack on a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, suspected to have been caused by a suicide bomber, claimed 23 lives, including Ibrahim Hassan Adow, Minister for Higher Education, Ahmed Abdullahi Wayeel, the Minister for Education, and Qamar Aden Ali, the Minister of Health.

According to local sources, the Islamist group Al-Shabab is being blamed for the blast. "Everybody here [in Mogadishu] believes that they [Al-Shabab] were behind it."

However, the group's spokesman denied any responsibility. In the past the organization had claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in the country.

Omar said the government was determined to bring Mogadishu under its control. "With the proper help from our partners and friends, I am confident we can bring the city under complete control."

He said those behind the bombing would be brought to justice. "It may not be today but I am certain they will face the law."

A civil society official, who requested anonymity, said the attack had created so much anger that Somalis "of all shades and clans were condemning it. I think it unified the people."

Shakhaudin Ahmed, one of those graduating on 3 December, told IRIN that those who carried out the attack wanted to kill "any hope of better future for Somalis, but they will not succeed".

Ahmed, who was slightly injured, said he was returning to work at Benadir hospital. "I will be there today, God willing."

Security chiefs replaced

On 6 December, the government announced a shake-up of the security forces. The Chief of Police, Gen Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdid, and the head of the Somali Army, Gen Yusuf Hussein Dhumal, were replaced, according to the government spokesman, Abdi Haji Gobdon.

Gobdon, however, denied the changes had anything to do with the bombing. "These changes were on the cards for a while," he said. "It has nothing to do with what happened on Thursday [3 December]."

Gen Ahmed Mohamed Hassan was named the new chief of police while Gen Mohamed Ghelle Kahiye was appointed head of the army.
The civil society official said Qeybdid and Dhumal had failed to "come to grips" with the insecurity in the city and in the country as a whole.

"They were totally incapable of bringing any meaningful change to the security situation," he said. "If anything, the situation got worse under their watch."

Gobdon said the latest appointments were part of a new plan to strengthen the security forces to enable them to deal with insurgents, who have been waging a sporadic war against government troops.

Gobdon told IRIN most of those injured in the bombing had been evacuated to Nairobi, in neighbouring Kenya.

Conflict and drought have led to the worst humanitarian crisis the country has faced in nearly two decades. An estimated 3.6 million people - almost half the population - need aid, according to the UN.

The UN estimates that the number displaced in fighting between government forces and the two Islamist insurgent groups has reached more than 1.5 million.

Source http://www.irinnews.org