2009 Hotel Shamo bombing

The bombing killed 24 people[1] and injured 60 others.[2] Most of those killed were students,[2] but also among the dead were two doctors, three journalists,[10] and three government ministers—Minister of Education Ahmed Abdulahi Waayeel, Minister of Health Qamar Aden Ali, and Minister of Higher Education Ibrahim Hassan Addow were killed.[5][7] Minister of Sports Saleban Olad Roble was critically injured, and was hospitalised. He was later reported to have been flown to Saudi Arabia for treatment,[11] where he died on 13 February 2010.[12]

The three journalists killed in the bombing were: Mohamed Amiin Abdullah of Shabelle Media Network, a Somali television and radio network;[7][10] freelance photographer Yasir Mairo, who died of injuries in hospital;[10] and a cameraman alternately identified as freelancer Hassan Ahmed Hagi[7] and Al Arabiya cameraman Hassan Zubeyr[10] or Hasan al-Zubair.[8] Their deaths raised to nine the number of journalists killed in Somalia during 2009, including four for Radio Shabelle.[10] The explosion also injured six other journalists, including two—Omar Faruk, a photographer for Reuters, and Universal TV reporter Abdulkadir Omar Abdulle—who were taken to Medina Hospital in critical condition.[10]

The dean of Benadir University's medical college was among the wounded.[8]

The attack drew condemnation from a number of organisations, including the African Union (AU), the European Union, the United Nations Security Council, and the National Union of Somali Journalists.[5][7]

AMISOM described the bombing as "inhumane and cowardly",[5] and characterised it as a "heinous [crime] against humanity".[7] AMISOM also promised to "spare no efforts" to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack,[7] and stated that the attack would not deter the AU from continuing to carry out its mission in Somalia.[2]

Baroness Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy for the European Union (EU), echoed AMISOM's sentiment, calling the bombing a "cowardly attack against civilians including students, doctors and journalists".[5]

The UN Security Council president Michel Kafando labelled the attack an act of terrorism[7] and a "criminal act",[6] called for a "thorough investigation", and conveyed "sympathies and condolences" to the victims of the attack, their families, the TFG, and the Somali people.[7]

A joint statement by the UN, the EU, the Arab League and the United States affirmed that the international community would continue its support of the Transitional Federal Government;[5] however, a senior European diplomat indicated that any additional military support to the TFG was unlikely.[6]

President Ahmed characterised the attack as a "national disaster".[2]

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement expressing condolences to the families of the three journalists killed in the bombing and noted that the attack "cemented" Somalia's "position as the deadliest country in Africa for journalists".[10]