Somalia's Information Ministry said at least 31 people including six members of parliament had been killed when gunmen stormed a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday.

"Six of the MPs who were staying at the hotel were among the dead in the attack. In addition, five government security personnel died in the operation. They (the gunmen) lastly blew themselves up," a ministry statement said.

At least two insurgents burst into the Huna Hotel holding hand grenades and shooting indiscriminately, according to a spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping mission that is propping up Somalia's Western-backed government.

Al-Shabaab
The fighting broke out on Monday afternoon when Al-Shabaab fighters launched an offensive on army barracks in several districts of the capital.

"Heavy fighting resumed this morning around several frontlines including Holwadag, Hodan and Bondhere area," Colonel Mohamed Omar, a Somali government security officer, said.

"Government forces are inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy, we killed more than 15 of their fighters," he claimed, without specifying whether the fighting had caused any casualties among his own ranks.

Civilians in the seaside Somali capital routinely get caught in the crossfire when government forces backed by Burundian and Ugandan African Union forces trade mortar and artillery rounds with the insurgents.

Bakara market
In the Bakara market area, a Shebab stronghold, shops were closed Tuesday and witnesses said armoured vehicles from the African mission (AMISOM) had moved in to support the government's military effort.

"We are trapped inside our houses and we cannot go outside because of the fighting," said Abdullahi Hussein, a resident of Mogadishu's northern flashpoint of Bondhere. "I can hear the tanks of the African peacekeepers engaging their opponents and firing artillery rounds," he added.

"Bakara market is not open this morning and people are trying to dodge the crossfire. Mortar shells are raining down on the market area and the roads leading to the market are closed," said Ali Muktar, a Bakara grocer.

Kampala
The suicide attacks in Kampala last month killed 76 people and were claimed by the Shabaab as retaliation for Uganda's leading role in AMISOM, the only obstacle to the insurgent group's final conquest of Mogadishu.

Uganda, hosting an African Union summit days later, responded by vowing to deploy more troops and mustering continental support for boosting AMISOM's deployment, which currently stands at more than 6,000 troops.

source: AFP/ANP/Reuters