Story highlights Somali-American Fahia Bashir Nur of Virginia was killed in the attack, her uncle says

Witness: Attackers detonate a car bomb, then shoot people inside hotel

The hotel is popular with lawmakers, journalists and business people

Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN) A siege that started with gunmen detonating a bomb and spraying bullets in a hotel in Somalia ended Saturday with at least 20 people dead, authorities said.

Among the dead was a Somali-American woman, Fahia Bashir Nur, 45, of Alexandria, Virginia, according to her uncle, Yusuf Kheire. He said Nur and her mother were dining in the hotel when the attack began. The mother lost an arm in the attack and was hospitalized.

The attack, which lasted hours, began when gunmen raided the hotel in Mogadishu on Friday evening.

Yusuf Mohamed Ismail Bari-Bari, Somalia's permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, was among those killed in the attack, the Somali government said.

"He will be remembered for his strong personal commitment to protecting and promoting human rights for all," Nicholas Kay, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Somalia, said of Bari-Bari.

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