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Al-Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital – in pictures

At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Gunmen used a vehicle packed with explosives to blast their way into the Sahafi hotel compound before storming the building, police said.Police were still exchanging fire with suspected al-Shabab militants inside the hotel about an hour after the attack started.

The hotel is popular with Somalia’s members of parliament.

A website associated with al-Shabab claimed responsibility, saying that fighters from the al-Qaeda linked group had infiltrated the hotel after an explosion.

The attack comes a day after deadly clashes between jihadist fighters and African Union (AU) troops in Somalia’s Bakool region.

The AU is helping the government battle al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda.

Security in Somalia has improved, but al-Shabab still attacks Mogadishu regularly.

The militants have also targeted neighbouring countries, killing almost 150 people in an assault on Garissa University College in Kenya in April.

 A Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital - in pictures

Fires burn outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, after a car bomb exploded at the main gate on November 1, 2015. Attackers then stormed the hotel, exchanging gunfire with security guards. Al Shabab, a group linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack. Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press
A Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital - in picturesReuters photographer Feisal Omar, centre, who was injured in the explosion, is comforted by relatives at the Medina Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Sunday, November 1, 2015. Mohamed Sheikh Nor / Associated Press
A Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital - in picturesA Somali policeman runs through the wreckage outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on November 1, 2015. Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press
A Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital - in picturesA Somali policeman walks through rubble outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on November 1, 2015. Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press
A Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital - in picturesSomali policemen carry a wounded person to an ambulance outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on November 1, 2015. Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press
A Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital - in picturesSecurity officers stand in front of the Sahafi Hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on November 1, 2015, after a car bomb exploded. Attackers then stormed the hotel, exchanging gunfire with security guards. Al Shabab, a group linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack. Said Yusuf Warsame / EPA
A Shabab attacks hotel in Somali capital - in picturesPeople gather around the scene of a car bomb explosion in front of the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on 

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