Kenyans, Americans, a Briton and Tanzanians were among 26 people killed when Islamist gunmen stormed a hotel in the Somali port city of Kismayo, officials have said. The attack was the deadliest in the city since insurgents were driven out in 2012.
A car bomb exploded at the hotel in the southern port city while local elders and politicians were meeting last night, before three gunmen stormed in, police said. Security forces took 11 hours to end the siege, they said.
The dead included a presidential candidate for August's Jubbaland regional elections, Jubbaland state president Ahmed Mohamed Madobe said.
At least two journalists and a UN agency staff member were also reported to have been killed.
Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, which is trying to topple Somalia's weak, UN-backed government, immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's military operations spokesman, said militants killed 30 people, while four al Shabaab fighters had also died.
The jihadist group and government officials tend to give differing casualty figures for attacks.
Mr Madobe said three Kenyans, one Briton, two Americans and three Tanzanians were among those killed.
"Four militants attacked the hotel. One of them was the suicide car bomber, two were shot dead and one was captured alive by Jubbaland security forces," he said, adding that 56 people were wounded in the attack, including two Chinese people.
Police had earlier said all the attackers were killed.
Kismayo is the commercial capital of Jubbaland, a region still partly controlled by al Shabaab, whose fighters frequently carry out bombings in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, whose troops form part of an African Union peacekeeping force.
Britain's foreign ministry said it was in touch with local authorities for information about the Kismayo attack.
A US State Department official confirmed that at least one US citizen was among the dead.
