Car bomb explosion kills at least 17 in Somalia.

Reuters -Two car bombs killed at least 17 people in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Saturday, police said. The Islamist group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility.

After a suicide car bomb attack on the Nasahablod Two hotel, approximately 600 meters from the presidential palace, armed militants stormed the building, police said.  

A few minutes later, a car bomb exploded near the old Parliament building. Ali Nur, a police officer, told Reuters that 17 people, mostly police officers, died in the explosions.

“Security forces entered a small portion of the hotel building… the exchange of gunfire is hellish,” he said. The conflict continued inside the hotel, and the death toll was likely to rise, according to police.

Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of ambulances in Amin, told Reuters that emergency services carried 17 wounded people from the hotel. The Islamist group Al Shabaab, responsible for similar attacks in the country's long civil war, said it carried out Saturday's bombings. 

Al Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the Somali government, which has the support of the international community, seeking to impose its strict interpretation of Sharia, Islamic law.

Bombings in Mogadishu two weeks ago killed at least 358 people, the worst such attack in the country's history, sparking outrage across Somalia. Al Shabaab is suspected, but has not claimed responsibility.