MOGADISHU: Gunmen in army uniforms stormed a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu frequented by government officials Tuesday, killing at least 31 people including legislators, the government said.

Hardline al Shabaab Islamists linked to al Qaeda have been waging an insurgency for three years against the fragile Western-backed government, and control most of Mogadishu. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The Information Ministry said at least 31 people had died, including six members of parliament and five members of government security forces.

The assault underscored the failure of the government and more than 6,300 mostly Ugandan African Union peacekeepers to bring order to Somalia after nearly two decades of anarchy, making it a continual source of instability for east Africa.

Last month al Shabaab expanded its reach as far as Uganda, claiming a double suicide bombing of packed bars in the capital Kampala. The attacks killed more than 70 people and jolted the African Union into increasing the peacekeeping contingent.

The Huna Hotel stands in one of the small nominally government-controlled areas of the capital, between the presidential palace and the Indian Ocean.

BLOOD LEAKING OU

Legislator Mohamed Hasan earlier told Reuters by telephone in the chaos after the event that 15 members of parliament had been killed.

"The blood of the dead is leaking out of the hotel," said Information Minister Abdirahman Osman.

He said one gunman had been captured. His ministry said two others had blown themselves up, and that sporadic gunfire and shelling were continuing in the area.

"Some of the MPs had guns in their rooms and defended themselves before security forces arrived," said an anonymous government security source.

Monday, the African Union announced the arrival of hundreds of new peacekeeping troops, mostly Ugandans, for the AMISOM mission to help the government in its battle against al Shabaab.

The peacekeepers have so far been able to do little more than guard the airport and port and shield President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.

The security source said more than 300 armed al Shabaab fighters were thought to live in the Elgaab neighbourhood where the hotel is located.

"They disguise themselves as civilians running different smaller businesses and working in different restaurants and shops," he said.

The insurgents also control large areas of central and south Somalia, and have attracted a large number of foreign fighters to their cause.

More than 21,000 Somalis have been killed since the start of the insurgency, 1.5 million have been uprooted from their homes and nearly half a million are sheltering in other countries in the region.