At least nine people have died in a militant attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, RIA Novosti reports, citing Somali National Television (SNTV).

Earlier, the local Internet portal Garowe reported that Al-Shabaab militants attacked the Pearl Beach Hotel in the capital of Somalia, where officials and politicians often stay.

Later, the news agency SONNA reported that “security forces were able to safely evacuate 84 civilians from the hotel, including small children, women, and the elderly.”

Al-Shabaab, a radical Islamist group based in Somalia, has close ties to the international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.