The 2009 Beledweyne bombing took place on June 18, 2009 in Beledweyne

Beledweyne

Beledweyne is a city in central Somalia. It is the capital of the Hiraan province, and is located in the central valley of the Shebelle river near the Ogaden, some 206 miles north of Mogadishu, the nation's capital. The Shebelle river divides the town into east and west...

, Hiiraan

Hiiraan

Hiran is an administrative region in south-central Somalia.-Overview:Hiiraan is bordered by the Somali Region of Ethiopia to the northwest, and the Somalian provinces of Galgudud to the northeast, Middle Shebelle) to the south, Lower Shebelle to the southwest, and Bay and Bakool to the west.The...

, Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

. A suicide bomber carried out the attack, detonating an explosives-laden vehicle at the front gate of the Medina Hotel. The blast killed 35 people, among them the Somali security minister Omar Hashi Aden

Omar Hashi Aden

Omar Hashi Aden , was a member of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, eventually rising to Security Minister. He was assassinated by a suicide bomber on 18 June 2009 in Beledweyne, in the Hiiraan region in central Somalia.Aden was from Hiiraan region...

, former Somali ambassador to Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 and the African Union

African Union

The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...

 Abdikarim Farah, and several Somali diplomats. The al-Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the attack.