At least 13 people were killed and dozens wounded in a dawn attack Sunday at a hotel in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu, a police official said.
Al-Shabab, a group fighting against Somalia's weak U.N.- backed government, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement that was delivered by their spokesman, Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu-Musab, on the group's radio station, Andulus.
By midday, Somali security forces had ended the siege at the Sahafi Hotel, said police commander Ali Ahmed.
"It's over now, we have killed all the attackers," he said. "They came under cover of darkness and attacked the hotel while some of the guards were sleeping."
Somali troops and African Union forces were deployed to the scene and took control of the situation, the spokesperson for the African Union Mission in Somalia, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Njuguna, told Al Jazeera.