Nairobi – Somalia’s minister for Youth and Sports has died of injuries sustained in Thursday’s suicide bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a government official said Sunday, raising the death toll to 24. A Somali government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the German Press Agency dpa that Saleeban Olaad Roble died on Saturday in the private Aga Khan Hospital in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The ministers for health, education and higher education also died when a male bomber dressed as a woman detonated an explosive device at a graduation ceremony for medical students.

Initial suspicion turned on insurgent group al-Shabaab – which the US says has links to al-Qaeda – but the group has denied responsibility and blamed government in-fighting for the bombing.

Suicide bombings have risen in Somalia this year, with the blame being laid at the door of outside influences.

Government ministers, foreign diplomats and AU officials say foreign fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly flocking to the lawless Horn of Africa nation to fight alongside al-Shabaab – which controls much of the country – and attend terrorist training camps. Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Over 19,000 people have died in the current insurgency, which kicked off in early 2007 after Ethiopian forces invaded to oust an Islamist regime that ruled for six months in 2006.