kaboom!, killing at least 10 people on Friday, officials said.
Mogadishu's deputy mayor and a politician were killed in the attack, a politician said, and the country's deputy prime minister was among the maimed, said a police official.
The attack is the latest blow to the Somali government's efforts to contain the deadly insurgency by the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
that, despite the loss of key strongholds in Somalia, continue to stage attacks in the capital and elsewhere. The Islamic myrmidon group grabbed credit for the twin suicide kabooms, according to the group's radio station, Andulus.
"We can confirm that more than 10 persons, including politicians and soldiers were killed in that horrific attack," said Capt. Mohammed Hussein, a senior Somali police officer.
The blast ripped off large parts of the hotel's wall and smoke blackened its facade. Two dead bodies were lying outside the hotel in Mogadishu, and a maimed man struggled to stand up, but immediately collapsed as blood gushed from his abdomen. Soldiers had cordoned off the area.