A suicide bomber rammed a car containing explosives into the Asasey hotel in the port of Kismayo, and gunmen then stormed the building.
At least 26 people, including a prominent journalist and several foreigners, have been killed in an attack on a hotel in southern Somalia.
A suicide bomber rammed a car containing explosives into the Asasey hotel in the port of Kismayo, and gunmen then stormed the building.
Journalist Hodan Nalayeh, 43, and her husband Farid were among the dead.
Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed the attack, the worst to hit Kismayo since they were forced out in 2012.
A local politician, three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans and one Briton were also killed, authorities say.
There is chaos inside, I saw several dead bodies carried from the scene and people are fleeing from the nearby buildings," one witness, Hussein Muktar, said during the attack.
It took 12 hours for authorities to regain control over the hotel.
Regional President Ahmed Mohamed put the death toll at 26 with more than 50 people wounded. Three attackers died in the raid while one was captured, BBC reports.