Al-Shabab attacks Mogadishu hotel, reports of many casualties

MOGADISHU, Somalia, June 1 (UPI) -- Al-Shabab gunmen stormed the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, after setting off explosives Wednesday, killing at least 15 people including two members of parliament, police said.

Members of the al-Qaida affiliated group, which seeks to make Somalia a fundamentalist Islamic state, detonated an explosives-filled car at the hotel's gate, and followed with a siege of the four-story hotel, Capt. Da'ud Hajji, a senior Somali police officer, said.

The scale of destruction is huge, the BBC said.

One of the attackers was killed, and two remain in the hotel. Ten people were rescued from the building, Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency said.

Somali politicians Mohamud Mohamed and Abdullahi Jamac, lived at the hotel and were killed in the attack. At least 20 other people were wounded, police said.

Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the incident. The group has a history of targeting hotels in the Somali capital in recent months.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to arrive in Mogadishu shortly after the attack, and would likely have traveled on the road past the hotel on his way to the presidential palace, Al-Jazeera reported.