1st LD: Chinese national confirmed dead in Mogadishu hotel blast

A Chinese national was killed and three others injured in Sunday's hotel blast in the Somali capital, the Chinese embassy here confirmed on Monday.

Chinese Embassy in Somalia, whose offices are in the attacked Jazera hotel, said that one of its armed guards has succumbed to severe wounds while three other injured staffers were still receiving treatment.

Mogadishu police officer Abdulle Mohamed told Xinhua earlier that a suicide bomber detonated his car at the gate of the hotel and killed 15 people, with most of them being civilians.

Located near Mogadishu international airport, the six-storied building is one of the luxury hotels in the Somali capital, and which houses foreign embassies and sometimes hosts government high-level meetings.

Suited on the top two storeys, the Chinese embassy said earlier that some of its rooms were also damaged in the blast.

Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a revenge for the Africa Union and Somali forces' recent operation in Dinsoor and Bardhere regions of southern Somalia.

The attack comes a day after a Somali lawmaker was killed in Mogadishu Saturday in the latest incidents of insecurity in the capital, for which Al-Shabaab has also claimed responsibility. Endi