At least eight people have been killed after two car bombs have exploded outside Jazeera hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
The blasts were at the Jazeera hotel close to Mogadishu’s airport, which is popular with Somali politicians.
Reports say the blasts were followed by exchanges of fire between security forces and the attackers.
The Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab, who was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, have said they carried out the attack.
At least eight people have been killed after two car bombs have exploded outside Jazeera hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu
The al-Qaeda-linked group still controls many southern and central areas of the country and has continued to launch attacks on the capital.
Four members of the security services were among the dead, including one senior officer, the deputy interior minister said.
Police officer Mohamed Warsame told the AFP agency that the second bomb went off as security services were trying to help the victims of the first blast.
The Jazeera hotel was also targeted in December 2012, when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was staying there. At least seven people die in that attack.
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Norway’s intelligence agency PST is investigating whether a Norwegian citizen was involved in the attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall.
The PST said it had sent investigators to Kenya to try to verify the claim.
It said it was opening an inquiry “based on information that a Norwegian citizen may have been involved”.
A Norwegian of Somali origin may have been involved in planning and carrying out the September 21 attack in which at least 67 people died, the PST said.
“The enquiry will primarily be aimed at helping prevent new terrorist acts and [determining] to what degree the Norwegian… was involved in the attack,” the agency said.
Norway’s intelligence agency PST is investigating whether a Norwegian citizen was involved in the attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall
The PST added that it would also try to establish if the unnamed suspect had ties to Somalia’s al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked militant group which said it had carried out the attack.
It said it was working to assess any potential threats to Norway and Norwegian interests.
Reports have suggested that an al-Shabab leader targeted at the weekend in a US military operation may have spent time in Norway.
The October 5 raid failed to capture Abdukadir Mohamed Abdukadir, alias Ikrima. He is thought to be a Kenyan citizen of Somali origin, one of many Kenyan Somalis and other foreign fighters who have joined the group.
Norway’s TV2 reported earlier this week that Ikrima had travelled to Norway and applied for asylum in 2004 but left in 2008 before there was a decision on his application.
Norwegian officials have not commented on the claims.
Last week Kenya’s military identified four men it said were involved in the Westgate siege. It said Abu Baara al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al-Kene and Umayr were killed during the standoff.
Abu Baara al-Sudani was said to have been an “experienced fighter” from Sudan, who led the group. Nabhan was a Kenyan of Arab origin and Kene a Somali linked to al-Shabab. Details about Umayr were not available.
Unidentified foreign forces have launched a night-time raid on an al-Shabab militant base in the south Somali town of Barawe from the sea, reports say.
A fighter had been killed in the raid, a spokesman for the al-Shabab Islamist group told Reuters news agency.
Reports speak of residents in the militant-controlled town being woken by heavy gunfire before dawn prayers.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility last month for a deadly attack on a Kenyan shopping mall.
At least 67 people were killed after militants stormed the Westgate mall in the capital, Nairobi, on September 21.
Unidentified foreign forces have launched a night-time raid on an al-Shabab militant base in the south Somali town of Barawe from the sea
An unnamed Somali intelligence official told the Associated Press that the targets of Saturday’s raid had been “high-profile” foreigners. The source did not say which country had carried out the operation.
Both US and French special forces have carried out raids on coastal targets in Somalia in recent years.
There was no immediate comment on Saturday’s alleged attack in Barawe from the Western-backed authorities in Somalia.
According to the Somali news website Midnimo, two helicopters were also involved in the raid.
“Westerners in boats attacked our base at Barawe beach and one was martyred from our side,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, described as al-Shabab’s spokesman for military operations, told Reuters by telephone.
Another al-Shabab member, named as Abu Mohamed, told AP that “foreign” soldiers had attacked a house in Barawe.
Militants rushed to the scene to capture a foreign soldier but were unsuccessful, he added.
Western navies tasked with fighting piracy patrol the seas off Somalia, which has been beset by conflict for more than two decades.
In 2009, US Navy commandos attacked and killed an al-Qaeda leader, Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, in a daylight raid on Barawe.
Washington has also used drones in Somalia to support the government and African Union forces in their battle against al-Shabab.
France carried out an unsuccessful raid to free a French intelligence agent in January. Two French commandos were killed and al-Shabab later reported that it had killed the agent.
