Gunmen have stormed a hotel in the Somali port city of Kismayo, police say, leaving at least three people dead.

The attack took place on Sunday, shortly after an explosives-packed car rammed into the Tawakal Hotel’s gate and exploded.  

“So far there are three people dead and eight others injured, who were taken to Kismayu hospital,” Farah Mohamed, a security officer, told Reuters, adding that “When the blast and attack occurred there was a meeting in the hotel.”

In a post on its Twitter account, the state-run Somali National Television said security forces were dealing with a “terrorist incident” at the hotel.

Mohamed Nasi Guled, a senior police official in Jubaland State, said three attackers entered the hotel’s premises.

He said security forces are working to end the attack as soon as possible, asking residents to stay calm.

The al-Shabaab Takfiri militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s military operation spokesperson, said the attack was intended to strike Jubbaland region’s administrators.

Tawakal Hotel is popular as a meeting place for government officials. Kismayo is located about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab is believed to have a strong presence in the areas surrounding Kismayo, the largest city and commercial capital of Jubaland State.

In 2019, a similar attack at another hotel in Kismayu killed at least 26 people.

An African Union force pushed al-Shabaab militants out of the capital in 2011. The group, however, still controls swathes of the countryside and takes random spots across the country under sporadic attacks from time to time.

Back in May, at least three civilians were killed and a number of others wounded after the group raided a military camp belonging to an African Union mission in central Somalia.

In August 2020, the group said it was behind an attack on a hotel in Mogadishu, in which at least 16 people were killed.

Also in October 2017, in the most fatal attack carried out by the terrorist group, well over 500 people were killed when a truck packed with explosives was detonated in Mogadishu.