Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

As many as 10 people were killed Wednesday when militants, including suicide bombers, attacked a hotel popular with government officials and business executives in central Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

A huge explosion and heavy gunfire punctuated the assault on the Hotel Ambassador.

There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Reuters quoted police as saying at least 10 people were dead. The Associated Press put the death toll at six. Police said at least two gunmen took hostages.

The militant group al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate that wants to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to media reports.

The assault began when suicide bombers blew up a vehicle laden with explosives at the gates of the hotel, the Associated Press reported. Gunmen then forced their way inside on foot.

Somalia’s elite forces used rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns mounted on cars to fight assailants who took up positions on the hotel’s second floor.

"A suicide car bomber has targeted the Hotel Ambassador along Maka Al Mukaram Road. He rammed into the gate," Colonel Ali Mohamed, a Mogadishu police officer, told Reuters.

Harun Maruf, a journalist for the Voice of America, tweeted the militants appeared to have taken over the top floors of the hotel.

The attack comes on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which extremists in the past have stepped up attacks in the volatile East African country.

Al-Shabab militants attacked another hotel in the Somali capital last year, killing at least 15 people.