Heavy security presence in Somalia capital after twin blasts

The restaurants in the town center were popular with officials and residents.

The SYL hotel, which is located across from presidential palace in Mogadishu, is frequented by government officials and business executives.

The death toll was rising after the attacks on Sunday, in which one person blew himself up at the popular restaurant Beder, while a second person detonated a vehicle bomb remotely in front of another restaurant, named Reedo, police say. In total, at least 60 people were left injured.

Three al Shabaab militants were also killed in the attack.

” We will continue pursuing them until they will be law-abiding”, President Hassan said while in the capital Djibouti in Djibouti when he met President Omar Ismail Guelle.

An AFP journalist reported that the shooting had stopped by just after 9:00 pm (1800 GMT).

Al-Shabab told the BBC they were “in control” of the hotel. At least two attackers were killed Shebab outside the hotel using armed guards opened fire during the attack.

Today´s attack started when a suicide bomber & his auto laden with explosives rammed into the restaurant.

A similar attack was launched against the Central Hotel in February 2015, killing more than 20 people.

Faced with superior firepower of the force of the African Union in Somalia (AMISOM) deployed in 2007 in Somalia, the Shebab have been chased out of Mogadishu in August 2011.

Having lost most of their strongholds, the group have increasingly taken to suicide bombings and guerrilla tactics instead of conventional combat.

Al-Shabaab, which means “the youth” in English, often carries out suicide attacks in the capital Mogadishu in a bid to topple Western-backed government.