Mogadishu: Suicide attackers set off two car bombs at a hotel in Mogadishu where government officials are known to stay, killing at least 22 people, police said.

The militant Islamist group al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Hotel Sahafi, which is near the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Somalis carry away an injured civilian who was wounded in a bomb blast near the Sahafi hotel in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia. Credit:AP

Hotel guards and CID officers opened fire after the blasts, police added. Then, about 20 minutes later, a third explosion from a bomb placed in a three-wheeled "tuk-tuk" vehicle near the hotel hit the busy street, witnesses said.

Setting off multiple devices is an increasingly common tactic of terror groups to target police, emergency service workers and journalists after an initial attack.