Militants from the al-Shabaab terrorist group on Thursday attacked a popular hotel near the presidential palace in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, security sources and witnesses confirmed.

The assault, for which al-Shabaab claimed responsibility, began at around 9:45 pm (1845 GMT) when gunmen stormed the SYL hotel and unleashing a barrage of gunfire.

"Several gunmen forced their way into the building after destroying the perimeter wall with a heavy explosion," AFP quoted security officer Ahmed Dahir as saying.

#BREAKING_NEWS 🚨🚨🚨

A huge explosion rocks Mogadishu, #Somalia with reports of an ongoing firefight involving AlShabab at Hotel SYL!

This follows days of advances by AlShabab across the country with the Government losing swathes of ground to the insurgents.

Many senior… pic.twitter.com/YENSntCGQU

— Sharmake (@Maydhalaalis) March 14, 2024

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties. But the Mogadishu24 news portal reported that Mogadishu Municipality Secretary General Feysal Arale, SMS TV Station Director Hassan Adde, Somali Government spokesperson Farhan Mohamed Jimale, the director general of the Somali Justice Ministry, as well as the chief of special police forces unit and other soldiers, have been injured during the attack.

Witnesses described hearing the attackers shoot indiscriminately.

"I don't know about the casualties but there were many people inside when the attack started," said Hassan Nur who escaped by climbing over a wall.

Other witnesses said police officers arrived at the hotel within minutes of the attack, sparking an intense gun battle.

The Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists have been waging an insurgency against the internationally backed federal government for more than 16 years and have often targeted hotels, which tend to host high-ranking Somali and foreign officials.

Thursday's attack comes days after the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 individuals and entities across the Horn of Africa and the Middle East it accused of laundering money for the al-Shabaab terrorist group.

Although the militants were driven out of the capital by an African Union force, they retain a strong presence in rural Somalia and regularly carry out attacks against political and civilian targets, including in Mogadishu.

The central government launched a major offensive against the terrorist group in August 2022, joining forces with local clan militias to reclaim swathes of territory. But the offensive has suffered setbacks despite early gains.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Thursday met defense officials in a "strategic meeting" to plan on how to reclaim the lost territory, Somalia's national news agency SONNA reported.

In January, the militants took a number of people hostage after a UN helicopter carrying nine passengers made an emergency landing in territory they control.