Huge explosion rocks hotel in Somali capital — FILE PHOTO: Security forces at the site of a bomb attack in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. /Getty Images

A huge explosion has occurred near a popular hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Witnesses say the massive blast occurred Sunday near Hotel Afrik, located in the vicinity of a busy security checkpoint en route to the Mogadishu airport. Militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility.

Police say al-Shabab members stormed the hotel but that most of the people inside were rescued, including Somalia’s former state minister for defense, Yusuf Siad Indha-Adde.

A VOA reporter, Abdikafi Yusuf Aden, was also inside the hotel at the time and survived.

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A truck bomb exploded at a checkpoint in the central Somali town of Beledweyne on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and obliterating nearby buildings, a police officer said. (AFP/File)

Reports say an unknown number of Al Shabaab gunmen are still held up inside the Hotel and shooting at anything that moves, which in this case are the Hotel guests and staff.

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