AT LEAST eight people were killed yesterday and 14 injured when security forces ended a siege by al-Shabab extremist fighters who had stormed a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Four al-Shabab attackers were also killed in the attack on the Dayah hotel, which is often frequented by government officials, said police spokesman Colonel Mohamoud Abdi.

Survivors described chaotic scenes in which hotel residents hid under beds and others jumped out of windows of the four-storey building to escape the attackers.

“They kicked down room doors and at some point posed themselves as rescue teams by telling those inside to come out to kill them,” said traditional elder Hassan Nur.

Two well-known clan elders were among those killed.

The assault on the hotel started when a suicide car bomb exploded at its gates, followed by a second explosion.

Dozens of people, including politicians, are thought to have been staying at the hotel at the time of the attack.