Saleban Olad Roble, 46, died at 6 p.m. on Friday at the King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh, said Somali Embassy Vice Consul Absir Warsme. He added that Roble, who was to turn 47 on Feb. 23, was buried at Naseem Burial Grounds on Saturday in line with his family’s wishes.
The minister and 18 other Somalis who were also injured in the suicide attack on Dec. 3 were admitted to several Riyadh hospitals on Dec. 14. Twenty-three people died in the blast, including a minister of education, a minister of higher education, a minister of health, and 10 staff and students at Benadir University. The attack took place while the minister was attending a medical graduation ceremony in Mogadishu.
Warsme said the injured minister was taken to Kenya for treatment, but was subsequently transferred to Riyadh along with the 18 others. He added that the other Somalis brought to the Kingdom have recovered and are to shortly be flown home via Nairobi.
The attack was carried out by a 26-year-old Danish man of Somali descent disguised as a veiled woman; it was blamed on Al-Shabaab insurgents who profess loyalty to Al-Qaeda.
The European Union, the Arab League, the United States and others jointly denounced what they called a particularly “cold-blooded” attack on “young, enterprising Somalis (who) were marking what should have been a landmark occurrence in their young lives.” It was the worst strike by Somali militants since June, when an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber killed the country’s security minister and at least 30 other people at a hotel in Baladwayne.
Western security experts say the failed Horn of Africa state has become a safe haven for hardliners, including foreign militants who are using it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
The country has had no effective central government for 19 years and the UN-backed administration of President Sheikh Ahmed Sharif controls just a few blocks of the capital. Fighting has killed at least 21,000 people since the start of 2007.
Somali minister dies in Riyadh hospital
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Sun, 2010-02-14 00:41
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