Mogadishu, 10 June 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Dozens of people were killed in Somalia on Friday, as terrorists attacked a hotel in the capital, while south of the city, children played with a discarded device that blew up.

Fighters of the Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab stormed a luxury hotel in Mogadishu, killing at least seven people.

The victims included five guests of the Pearl Beach Hotel, located on Lido Beach, and two guards, police told dpa.

The siege was ongoing on Friday evening.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance of the hotel, then gunmen stormed the building, police officer Mohamed Dahir said.

It remains unclear exactly how many attackers were involved, he said.

Another security official, Hassan Ali, said the attackers had taken hotel guests hostage, hampering the work of the security forces.

Gunshots and explosions were heard in and around the hotel on Friday night, according to eyewitnesses.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack on the pro-Islamist radio station Andalus.

Somalia's population of roughly 16 million people has been shaken by terrorist attacks and other acts of violence for years, especially by al-Shabaab.

A device left behind by the group was said to have caused the deaths of at least 22 children between the ages of 10 and 15 on Friday.

They were killed by an explosive device while playing football, according to the authorities.

Three other children were injured in the district of Qoryoley in the southern province of Lower Shabelle, said the governor of the province, Ibrahim Aden.

The children had found an intact explosive device on a football field and were playing with it when it exploded.

Recent rainfall uncovered the device, the governor said, suggesting it had been left behind by al-Shabaab terrorists.