A damaged building is seen at the scene where a suicide car bomb exploded targeting a Mogadishu hotel in a business center in Maka Al Mukaram street in Mogadishu, Somalia. February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The death toll from an Al Shabaab suicide car bombing at a Mogadishu hotel rose to 29 with 80 wounded, police said on Friday, as a gun battle raged at the site of the blast between fighters of the militant group and Somali troops.

“So far we know 29 people mostly civilians died and 80 others injured. The militants are still fighting from inside a civilian house adjacent to the hotel... The death toll may rise,” police Major Musa Ali told Reuters.

The blast hit the Maka Al-Mukarama hotel on Thursday evening.