Somalia

Islamist militant group al Shabaab launched a suicide attack on a hotel in the Somalia capital Mogadishu, killing 15 people, police have confirmed.

Police major Ali Hassan said the militants first set off a bomb then stormed inside the Nasahablood Hotel.

There were reports of a heavy exchange of gunfire, but the fighting has now ended.

He added: "We have rescued many people from the back door. Those who died included civilians and hotel guards".

Al Shabaab military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab said his group "attacked the hotel which was frequented by the apostate government members."

Investigators believe the Somalia plane bomber had some type of link to the airline or airport staff, according to US officials.

The plane was forced to land after a blast blew a hole in its side shortly after take off in Mogadishu, Somalia, last Tuesday.

A suicide bomber is suspected to have set off the bomb on board the Daallo Airlines flight, before being sucked out of the side of the plane to his death.

An explosion which blasted a hole in the side of a Somali plane was caused by a bomb deliberately planted in the aircraft, the country's minister for transport has confirmed.

"We have confirmed that it was a bomb that exploded," Ali Ahmed Jamac told a news conference on Saturday.

"It was meant to kill all aboard."

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing inMogadishu after the explosion on Tuesday.

One elderly man, who is suspected of being the bomber, was sucked out of the side of the plane and died. Two other passenger suffered minor injuries.

Officials have not yet confirmed a motive for the bombing, though it is thought that it may have been the work of Islamist al Shabaab militants.

• Read: Man missing from plane which had hole blown in its side

Al Shabaab is the leading suspect in the apparent bombing of a plane, a US government source has told Reuters.

An explosion on a Somali plane was likely caused by a bomb, US officials have said.

The sources, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said no group is known to have claimed responsibility for the blast and forensic evidence was lacking.

One person died on Tuesday when the Daallo Airlines Airbus A321 carrying 74 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing after a huge hole was blown in its side.

Earlier officials at Somalia's civil aviation authority said they had found no evidence so far of a criminal act.

• Somali plane lands with huge hole in its side after 'explosion'