Al-Shabaab gunmen kill at least seven in attack on Mogadishu hotel

Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants launched a car bomb attack followed by an armed raid on a Mogadishu hotel yesterday, killing at least seven people and trapping government officials inside.

"There was an explosion outside and gunmen stormed the hotel. There is shooting inside. We don't know how many dead there are," police official Ahmed Abdi Fatah said.

He added that some government officials were also believed to have been wounded in the attack, and that security forces had surrounded the hotel. The remains of two destroyed cars could be seen at the gates of the building.

The car bombing followed by armed raid - a trademark of the militant Islamists - targeted the Maka al Mukarama hotel in the city centre.

Al-Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said the militants were "in control of the area". "Our fighters are inside the hotel," he said. "Some people have been killed and others have been wounded but we don't have exact casualty figures."

A police official had earlier said that at least one person had died in the initial car bombing that set off the attack. At least seven people were believed to have been killed in the blast and raid.