Ministers killed in Somalia blast
At least 23 people have been killed including three government ministers after an explosion ripped through the Shamo Hotel in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, during a graduation ceremony.
Of the three ministers killed in the blast, one was a woman - Qamar Aden Ali, the health minister. Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the minister for higher education, and Ahmed Abdullahi Wayel, the minister for education, also died.
Also among the dead were two journalists and two professors. At least 50 students were reportedly injured. [updated]
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Officials say the attack hit a hotel in the city during a crowded graduation ceremony for medical students from a local university.
Witnesses said the attack appeared to have targeted government officials.
Insurgents are fighting the UN-backed government, which controls small pockets of territory in the country.
Somali Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle said the bomber had been dressed in women's clothing, "complete with a veil and a female's shoes".
Mr Gelle told the Associated Press news agency that officials had a photograph of the man.
"What happened today is a national disaster," said Mr Gelle.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan, who was at the scene, said there was a huge explosion in the hotel's meeting hall where hundreds of people were gathered for the graduation.
Five government ministers were reported to have been in the hotel at the time.
"A lot of my friends were killed," medical student Mohamed Abdulqadir told Reuters.
"I was sitting next to a lecturer who also died. He had been speaking to the gathering just a few minutes before the explosion."
A photographer for the agency described hearing a huge explosion and the room filling with smoke.
"I went to get my camera, and that's when I saw the bodies of the three ministers," said Mohamed Dahir.
The students were graduating from Benadir University, which was set up in 2002 to train doctors to replace those who had fled overseas or been killed in the civil war.
Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-Based television network, said Hasan al-Zubair, one of its cameramen, had also been killed in the explosion.
The death toll is expected to rise.
'Intimidation'
The Shamo hotel is often used by the few foreigners - aid workers, journalists and diplomats - who still visit Mogadishu.
It is in one of the small parts of the city controlled by the government, just 1km from the K4 junction, where the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, Amisom, has a base.
Security was said to have been light inside the ceremony, with the ministers' bodyguards all waiting outside the meeting hall.
No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which was condemned as "inhumane and cowardly" by the African Union.
The AU said the blast would "not deter the resolve and determination of the African Union to support the people of Somalia in their quest for peace and reconciliation".
The acting head of Amisom, Wafula Wamunyini, said the blast was "intended to intimidate and blackmail" the UN-backed government.
"We want to ensure everyone we are going to continue with our mission. We are going to continue providing our services," he told AFP.
Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.
Pro-government troops regularly come under attack from the al-Shabab militant group, which is suspected of having links to al-Qaeda.
-- with input from agencies (bbc, alarabiya, aljazeera)