Gunmen stormed a hotel in the town of Baladweyne in central Somalia on Tuesday and a siege was ongoing, two witnesses told Reuters.
Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal lawmaker from Baladweyne, said so far at least four people had been killed but that "we are still counting casualties."
It was not immediately clear who was carrying out the attack on the Qahira hotel, although Islamist militant group al Shabaab frequently launches bombings and gun attacks in the fragile Horn of Africa nation.