Blast kills 19 at graduation ceremony in Somalia, including 3 ministers

The African Union said 19 people were killed in the attack, which struck a ceremony being held at Hotel Shamo for Banadir University's medical school.

The government said three government ministers lay among the dead, and journalists reported that two journalists were killed.

Nine students and two doctors also were killed, according to a professor at Banadir University.

At a news conference, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed displayed what he said was the body of the bomber, according to a Radio Mogadishu journalist who was there. CNN is not naming the journalist for security reasons.

The president blamed the Islamist group Al-Shabaab for the attack.

The body the president displayed had a beard. The president also showed the remains of the suicide belt and shreds of a hijab -- a loose, dress-like garment -- at the news conference, according to the journalist.

The government named the three slain ministers as Education Minister Abdullahi Wayel, Health Minister Qamar Aden and Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Adow.