The slain journalists were: Al Arabia TV cameraman Hassan Subeyr Hajji Hassan, Shabelle radio reporter Mohamed Amiin Aden Abdulle and Daynile website reporter and chairman of TOP football club, Abdi Qafaar Abdulkadeer Hassan (Yasir).  

The death of the three journalists now make Somalia the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists to work with  six other journalists including Radio Shabelle directors killed between January and July this year.  

Somali government information minister Sheik Dahir Mahmour Guelleh told reporters in Mogadishu that a man dressed in women’s clothes exploded himself at the Shamow hotel in Mogadishu where a graduation ceremony was being held for 52 students who ended six years of learning at the Banadir medical university in Mogadishu.  

He accused the Alqaeda inspired Alshabab militants of being responsible for the terror attack, although no group has yet claimed for the responsibility.  

The year 2009 became another year of agony for Somali journalists as the first day of the year started with the killing of a well known journalist Hassan Mayow Hassan who was killed in the Afgoye district about 30 kilometers south of the capital Mogadishu.  

Meanwhile the Somali government minister for Youth and Sport Suleiman Olad Roble who was seriously wounded in the attack is being treated at the Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi.  

The Information Minister reports that Mr. Suleiman is in coma and was due to be flown to Italy for treatment yesterday.

By Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar

First Vice-president, SSPA