Toll for Somali hotel truck bomb rises to 15, including diplomats, journalists

An African Union (AU) soldier walks past the scene of destruction following a suicide car bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, July 26, 2015. A Somali police officer says a suicide car bomber has rammed his car into the protective perimeter outside a well-known hotel in the Somali capital Sunday, killing at least four people. Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the blast has caused an extensive damage on the Jazeera Hotel, which is often frequented by government officials, diplomats and foreigners. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

Security forces secure the scene next to destroyed vehicles following a suicide car bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, July 26, 2015. A Somali police officer says a suicide car bomber has rammed his car into the protective perimeter outside a well-known hotel in the Somali capital Sunday, killing at least four people. Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the blast has caused an extensive damage on the Jazeera Hotel, which is often frequented by government officials, diplomats and foreigners. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

Security forces secure the scene following a suicide car bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, July 26, 2015. A Somali police officer says a suicide car bomber has rammed his car into the protective perimeter outside a well-known hotel in the Somali capital Sunday, killing at least four people. Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the blast has caused an extensive damage on the Jazeera Hotel, which is often frequented by government officials, diplomats and foreigners. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

Somali police say the toll for the massive truck bomb attack on the capital's premier hotel has risen to 15, including a Kenya diplomat, a Chinese embassy guard and three journalists.

The scale of the truck bomb used against the Jazeera Hotel has stunned Mogadishu, a capital long used to conflict and raises fears of an escalation of force by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group battling the government.

The radical al-Shabab had been pushed out of the capital by Somali forces backed by troops from the African Union. The group said the bomb was in retaliation for the offensive.

The front of the five-story hotel, which used to host diplomats, journalists and visiting heads of state, had been sheared off, echoing the devastation from worst days of the civil war.