• At least 20 people were killed and 40 injured, including children, during the 30-hour siege.
• Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has claimed it was behind the attack.
• The hotel is popular with politicians and other state officials, but no indication yet that any were caught up in the fighting.

During the 30-hour onslaught on the Hayat Hotel, at least 20 people were killed and 40 more, including children, were injured, according to authorities and witnesses.

Al Shabaab, a group with ties to Al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the assault.

A security commander told the AFP news agency on Saturday night that “the gunmen are dead” and that a news briefing would take place on Sunday.

At around 4 p.m. local time (6 p.m. UK time) on Friday, the assailants detonated two car explosives outside the Hayat Hotel before breaking in, opening fire, and taking possession.

On Friday night, the explosions produced massive plumes of smoke over the bustling intersection, and on Saturday, gunfire could still be heard crackling across the city.

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“We were sipping tea near the hotel lobby when we heard the first blast, followed by gunfire,” eyewitness Abdullahi Hussein said to the Associated Press. I hurried to the ground floor of the motel and shut the doors (it).

“The militants immediately ran upstairs and began firing. Until the security personnel arrived and saved me, I was in the room.He reported seeing “many dead laying on the ground outside hotel reception” as he was leaving the complex.

For more than ten years, Al Shabaab has fought to overthrow the Somalian government in order to install a government that strictly adheres to Islamic law.

Though there has been no indication that any politicians or other state officials were involved in the fighting, the Hayat Hotel is a favourite among them.

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