Security forces in Somalia are braced for a wave of new attacks by Islamist extremists following a bloody overnight assault on a hotel that ended on Saturday.

The death toll from the attack in the southern port city of Kismayo, which began on Friday evening, has risen to 26 people, including a prominent Canadian-Somali journalist and several foreigners.

The victims include one Briton, three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans and one Canadian, said Ahmed Madobe Islam, the president of the Jubaland regional state that controls Kismayo.

He told reporters that 56 people, including two Chinese, were injured.

At least four al-Shabaab militants attacked the Asasey hotel, which is popular with politicians, foreigners and lawmakers. A suicide car bomb demolished the entrance gate, allowing gunmen to storm the main building.

Al-Shabaab tends to launch campaigns of multiple strikes when it the group is under pressure. Five people, including three civilians, were killed in a gun battle in the capital, Mogadishu, on Monday after extremists opened fire on a checkpoint.

Regional intelligence officials and analysts say that a spate of public executions by al-Shabaab in recent weeks is part of a broader effort to demonstrate continued strength despite casualties sustained in airstrikes and a series of clashes with Somali troops over recent months.

The pace of US airstrikes against al-Shabaab has escalated dramatically. There were 47 in 2018 and have been 50 so far this year. These are thought to have killed about 300 militants, according to a count by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism.

Al-Shabaab operations have been disrupted by the strikes, and though the group’s hold on swaths of territory in central and southern Somalia remains strong, commanders will want to demonstrate their capacity to harm enemies.

Hotels are a favourite target of al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack. Troops fought for more than 12 hours before eventually killing all attackers inside the hotel compound, said Col Abdiqadir Nur, a police officer.

Analysts said the operation had all the hallmarks of the group, which often uses suicide car bombs to blast through defences of heavily fortified targets.

The group was also behind the massive truck bomb in Mogadishu in 2017 that killed more than 500 people.

Despite its proximity to some major al-Shabaab strongholds, Kismayo has been relatively quiet in recent years.

The siege at the hotel began on Friday evening and lasted more than 12 hours. Al-Shabaab is an official affiliate of al-Qaida. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Hodan Nalayeh, a Canadian journalist, and her husband, Farid Jama Suleiman, died in the attack, confirmed the Mogadishu-based independent radio station Radio Dalsan.

Omar Suleiman, a Texas-based imam who knew the journalist, wrote on social media: “I’m absolutely devastated by the news of the death of our dear sister Hodan Nalayeh and her husband in a terrorist attack in Somalia today. What a loss to us. Her beautiful spirit shined through her work and the way she treated people.”

The BBC journalist Farhan Jimale tweeted:

I’m saddened by the death of my dear friend the Somali Canadian journalist, Hodan Nalayeh, who was among those killed in today's attack in #Kismaayo. She was a bright star & a beautiful soul that represented the best of her people & homeland #Somalia at all times. RIP sister. pic.twitter.com/DGkEcTPED4 — Farhan Jimale (@farhanjimale) July 12, 2019

Nalayeh was born in Somalia in 1976 but spent most of her life in Canada, first in Alberta and then Toronto. She founded Integration TV, an international web-based video production company aimed at Somali viewers around the world. She was the first female Somali media owner.

“Through her work as a journalist, Hodan highlighted the community’s positive stories and contributions in Canada. She became a voice for many. We mourn her loss deeply, and all others killed in the #KismayoAttack,” Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s immigration minister, tweeted.

Kismayo resident Osman Nur told Reuters the explosion had destroyed huge parts of the hotel and nearby businesses and security forces were deployed all over the city. TV footage showed walls peppered with bullet holes and furniture strewn across the hotel courtyard.

Another anguished resident said she lost relatives in the attack.

“I have been looking for the whereabouts of my nephew who worked at the hotel. I got his dead body this morning and have just buried him,” Halima Nur, a mother of four, told Reuters.

“And this afternoon I will attend the burial of other relatives.”

Al-Shabaab, which is an official affiliate of al-Qaida, has been waging a war for more than a decade to overthrow Somalia’s western-backed central government and install its own rule based on its strict interpretation of sharia law.

In March, the group killed five people, including the deputy labour minister, in an attack on a government building in the capital, Mogadishu.

In January it launched a spectacular assault on a luxury hotel, restaurant and retail complex in Nairobi, Kenya.

The US has ramped up its support for the government in Somalia, deploying hundreds of special forces soldiers, and frequently uses drones to attack the militants.

In March 2017, Donald Trump approved greater authority for military operations against al-Shabaab, allowing increased actions in support of the African Union Mission in Somalia and Somali forces.

Earlier this year, a report by Amnesty International claimed attacks have killed or wounded nearly two dozen civilians, and said the Pentagon is not adequately investigating potential casualties.