Somali Minister Dies Of Wounds After Suicide Bomb

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s sports minister has died in hospital in Saudi Arabia weeks after he was critically wounded in a suicide bombing at a medical graduation ceremony in Mogadishu, relatives and officials said on Saturday.

Saleban Olad Roble passed away on Friday at a hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where he and other victims of the Dec. 3 blast at the Shamo Hotel had been flown for treatment.

Twenty-two people were killed, including three other government ministers — education, higher education and health — and 10 members of Benadir University’s faculty and students.

“We are arranging a state funeral,” Mohamed Ali Nur, Somalia’s ambassador to neighbouring Kenya, told foreign news agency. “We are still not sure whether his body will be carried back from Saudi Arabia. Our condolences go to his family and colleagues.”