MOGADISHU: The death toll rose to 14 on Saturday from massive bomb blasts outside a Mogadishu hotel and a park that was claimed by Somalia’s Shabab militants, government and medical sources said.

Eighteen people were wounded in Friday’s bombings, two of whom succumbed to their injuries on Saturday, Dr. Mohamed Moalim of the Medina hospital in the Somali capital told AFP.

Police on Friday said at least 12 civilians had been killed.

Two loud explosions went off near the popular SYL hotel and neighboring Peace Garden followed by more than an hour of automatic gunfire from 7:45 p.m. (1645 GMT), an AFP correspondent said.

The hotel and park are close to the top-security Villa Somalia complex that houses the presidential palace and the prime minister’s office.

Security Minister Abdirasak Omar Mohamed said the assailants drove a truck packed with 200 kilogrammes (440 pounds) of explosives to the SYL Hotel.

“The security forces managed to stop the truck at a checkpoint (that the driver) tried to forcefully pass and this effort minimized the casualties it could have inflicted if it was to reach the target,” he told a news conference on Saturday.

“It exploded there and a number of people died.”