Official: Explosion, gunfire in Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu

Somali men carry a wounded person to an ambulance outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. A Somali police officer says an explosion followed by heavy gunfire has been heard at a hotel in the Somali capital. The hotel is often frequented by Somali government officials and business executives. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

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Somali policemen carry a wounded person to an ambulance outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. A Somali police officer says an explosion followed by heavy gunfire has been heard at a hotel in the Somali capital. The hotel is often frequented by Somali government officials and business executives. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

Somali men watch as fires burn amidst the destruction outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. A Somali police officer says an explosion followed by heavy gunfire has been heard, thought to have been caused by a suicide car bomb, at the hotel often frequented by Somali government officials and business executives. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya – A Somali police officer says an explosion followed by heavy gunfire has been heard at a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein said Sunday the explosion thought to have been caused by a suicide car bomb targeted the Sahafi Hotel. The hotel is often frequented by Somali government officials and business executives.

A website associated with Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, that is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak U.N.- backed government, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that fighters from the al-Qaeda linked group infiltrated the hotel after an explosion.