"The Central Hotel, often frequented by politicians, was hit by a car bomb and a suicide attack. Gunmen then stormed the hotel mosque and opened fire during Friday prayers," BBC reported.
"Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it was behind the attack," it reported.
Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir Mareeye told the BBC that Somalia's deputy prime minister and other ministers had been at the hotel at the time but had survived the attack.
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