Gunmen stormed a popular hotel in Mogadishu on Sunday after opening their attack with multiple blasts, Somali officials said.
Many civilians died in the attack, they said. But they did not give a death or injury toll, and the siege was ongoing in the morning hours, as Somali special forces moved in to fight the militants.
The attack started when a suicide car bomb exploded at the gates of Sahafi Hotel, which government officials use as a residence, interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf Osman said.
An intelligence service official, who did not want to be named, said that two more explosions detonated during the attack — one believed to be a bomb remotely targeting first responders. The third explosion was believed to be carried out by a suicide attacker.
Intelligence services are still investigating the attack.
Interior ministry spokesman Osman, who was present at the site of the attack, said that armed men pushed inside the hotel.