Security forces said the 30-hour ordeal is over.

Twenty-one people are confirmed to have been killed in the 30-hour ordeal, the health ministry said. Officials say the fight to retake the hotel is now over, reports BBC.

The attackers reportedly used explosives to gain entry to Mogadishu's Hayat Hotel before violently taking control over it.

Terror group al-Shabab has taken responsibility for the incident.

"I would like to inform all Somalis that the operation at the hotel was concluded at midnight," police Commander Abdi Hassan Mohammed Hijra told journalists in a briefing that took place close to the site of the attack as quoted by BBC.

"It is shocking that innocent people lost their lives here... The security forces were engaged in rescuing the people one by one and in groups."