Somali hotel attack: At least 10 killed

Ten civilians and one police officer were killed in a gun and bomb attack by Al-Shabaab fighters on an upscale beachfront hotel in Somalia's capital on Sunday. An official told AFP, Report says.

Security forces took four hours to regain control of the Elite Hotel in the Lido beach area of Mogadishu after five assailants stormed it early Sunday evening, said information ministry spokesman Ismael Mukhtaar Omar.

"Ten people were dead, and five militants also killed, plus one Somalia special police officer," Omar told AFP. 

It was not clear how Somali security forces managed to end the siege on the hotel and kill the assailants, who were said to have taken hostages at one point. 

Earlier on Sunday, while the siege was still ongoing, a security source told one of the assailants had died in the car bomb explosion that kicked off the attack, and two others had died in a shootout.

Ambulance workers at the scene reported that at least 30 people were wounded.