The attack began just before 8 p.m. local time on Friday when a vehicle loaded with explosives stopped near the popular SYL Hotel and exploded, according to government spokesman Abdirahman Osman.
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Government security forces patrolled the streets of Mogadishu Saturday following the attacks Friday night on a hotel and a nearby public garden.
He said at least nine dead bodies of civilians could also be seen outside the hotel after the attack there, which was claimed by the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab.
The first blast, at the hotel, sent a loud booming sound across the city, shattering windows and ripping the roofs off many nearby buildings.
Another suicide attacker detonated his explosives near Peace Garden, a spot popular with entertaining children on Fridays.
The wounded were taken to the Medina Hospital in Mogadishu, where Dr. Muhammad Sheikh said the auto bomb had caused most casualties.
Galgadud Governor Hussein Weheliye Irfo who was among a group of high profile officials sheltered by SYL hotel has confirmed that Al Shabaab gunmen were unable to break into inside.
Somali resident Barre Ali said the explosion at the hotel “felt like there was an quake”. Police say seven people were killed in there.
Despite being pushed out of Somalia’s major cities and towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa, and even across the border.
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The latest attack in the Somali capital comes as the President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament are all out of the country.
