Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab has distanced itself from Thursday's deadly suicide attack on a Mogadishu hotel which killed dozens including three government ministers and wounded scores of others.

As many as 60 people were killed, including three Somali government ministers, while nearly 200 others including students and other guests and government officials were wounded after a suicide attacker detonated an explosive vest when a graduation ceremony was continuing at the hotel in the government-controlled section of the Somali capital.

"We (Al-Shabaab) want to tell Muslims that the Youth Mujahideen Movement (Al-Shabaab) just heard that incident on the media just like everybody else and that is never becoming of such act," Ali Raage, spokesman for the militant group said.

The spokesman said that Al-Shabaab extended its condolences to "innocent Muslims" who were harmed in "the unfortunate incident" at Shamow hotel.

This is the first time the radical group denied responsibility for a suicide attack that apparently targeted at Somali government ministers at the hotel attending a graduation ceremony for medical university students, the second batch having graduated for nearly two decades.

A third journalist was confirmed dead after he succumbed to serious injuries he sustained in the blast that also killed two more and wounded five other local journalists covering the event.

Hospital sources said on Thursday they were overwhelmed by the influx of the wounded who were rushed to a nearby Medina hospital.

Residents said the sound of the explosion was very "deafening" and could be heard in far corners of the city.

The international community has condemned the suicide bombing. In a joint statement issued in Nairobi, the European Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, Norway, the UN, and the United States all condemned "in the strongest terms the cowardly acts of terrorism killing Somali officials and civilians in Mogadishu."

Al-Shabaab has previously carried out suicide attacks against Somali government officials and forces and African Union peacekeepers based in Mogadishu.

The group, which is the most powerful rebel movement in Somalia, controls much of the south and center of the war-torn country.

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos and lawlessness for nearly the past two decades and has been without a strong central government since the ousting of Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.