Three journalists were killed today in an explosion that rocked a hotel in a government-controlled quarter of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where a graduation ceremony for Banadir University was taking place.

Mohamed Amin Adam Abdulle, of Radio Shabelle, and Hassan Zubeyr Haji Hassan, a cameraman for Al-Arabiya TV were both killed in the blast, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) reported this morning. BBC correspondent Mohammed Olad Hassan later confirmed to IPI that a third journalist, freelance photographer Yasir Mario, was also killed.

Three ministers from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia were also killed, and a fourth was critically wounded, after a suicide bomber dressed as a woman managed to breach the Hotel Shamo and detonate explosives, according to Hassan.

It is believed that most of the victims were students.

Universal TV’s Abdulkadir Omar Abdulleh and Reuters stringer Omar Faruk were wounded during the explosion, Hassan told IPI. NUSOJ reports that a further three journalists, Mohamed Aweys Mudey from Somaliweyn Radio, Mohamed Abdi Hussein from Hurmo Radio, and Khalid Maki Banadir of Universal TV, were also injured in the attacks.

The hotel where the attack occurred is frequented by the handful of journalists and diplomats who still visit Mogadishu, according to the BBC.

“We are saddened and outraged by this loss of life, and condemn in the strongest possible terms this appalling massacre,” said IPI Deputy Director Alison Bethel-McKenzie. “Our thoughts are with the families of our colleagues Mohamed, Hassan and Yasir, and with the families of all the victims of this senseless attack.”

The tragic deaths of Abdulle, 24, and his colleagues Hassan and Mario bring the total number of journalists killed this year in Somalia up to nine.

Somalia, one of the world’s most dangerous countries for reporters, has not seen peace in twenty years. Much of the country continues to be wracked with violence as Islamist insurgents battle the Western-backed TFG forces for control of the fractured country.