Somalia’s security forces are battling gunmen in a building in Mogadishu, hours after a suicide car bomb attack on a busy street left at least 20 people dead, security sources say.
The attack was launched late on Thursday by suspected al-Shabab militants in an area lined with hotels, shops and restaurants.
The gunmen then seized a nearby building and were surrounded.
Exchanges of gunfire continued throughout the night in the capital.
Some 60 people have been injured and seven have died in the attacks on Maka al-Mukarama road, a spokesman for the Aamin Ambulance service told the BBC.
A number of civilians have been rescued from the building, reports say.
There are fears that the death toll will rise further.
“There are still some armed men inside a building,” police officer Ibrahim Mohamed was quoted as saying on Friday morning by the AFP news agency.
Here is a tweet from the secretary-general of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) Mohamed Moalimuu;