MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least 11 were killed and 50 injured Wednesday as Somali security forces ended a siege by extremist fighters who stormed a hotel in the capital, police said.

Four al-Shabab attackers were also killed in the attack on the Dayah hotel, which is often frequented by government officials, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior police officer. The death toll may rise, he said.

Survivors described chaotic scenes in which hotel residents hid under beds and others jumped out of windows of the four-story building to escape.

“They kicked down room doors and at some point posed themselves as rescue teams by telling those inside to come out (only) to kill them,” said witness Hassan Nur.

The assault on the hotel started when a suicide car bomb exploded at its gates. A second explosion soon followed.

Dozens of people, including lawmakers, were thought to have been staying at the hotel at the time of the morning attack, Hussein said.

Somalia's homegrown Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack via its online radio channel.

Al-Shabab frequently targets hotels and other public places often visited by government officials and foreigners. Al-Qaida's East African affiliate is fighting to impose a strict version of Islam in this Horn of Africa nation.

In June, gunmen stormed the Nasa-Hablod hotel, killing at least 14 people. Two weeks before that, gunmen killed 15, including two members of parliament, at the Ambassador hotel.

Despite being ousted from most of its key strongholds, al-Shabab carries out deadly guerrilla attacks across large parts of south and central Somalia.

Russian bill to allow some domestic violence advances

MOSCOW — The Russian parliament on Wednesday passed the second reading of a controversial bill to decriminalize some forms of domestic violence.

The State Duma voted 385-2-1 to eliminate criminal liability for battery on family members that doesn't cause bodily harm. The bill that makes battery on a family member punishable by a fine or a 15-day day arrest has yet to be approved in the third reading. From the Duma, it would go to the upper house, largely a rubber-stamp body, and then to President Vladimir Putin.

The bill stems from a Supreme Court ruling to decriminalize battery that doesn't inflict bodily harm, but to retain criminal charges for those accused of battery against relatives. Conservative activists objected, arguing it was a threat to parents who might spank their children.

Crews in Ga. search for toddler missing amid tornado debris

ALBANY, Ga. — Crews searched a mobile home park strewn with twisted metal and other debris Wednesday for a toddler whose parents reported him missing after a tornado demolished their trailer during a weekend outbreak of deadly storms.

Albany Fire Chief Ron Rowe told a news conference the search for 2-year-old Detrez Green resumed at dawn Wednesday.

The boy's mother told authorities he slipped away from her Sunday afternoon and toddled into their kitchen just before a tornado sent an oak tree crashing through their home in the Piney Woods Estates mobile home park.

The National Weather Service said at least 21 twisters touched down in Georgia. The storms were blamed for 20 deaths: 15 in Georgia, four in Mississippi and one in Florida.

Survivor of Italy avalanche says she assumed it was a quake

GIULIANOVA, Italy — A survivor of an Italian avalanche that devastated a mountain hotel said Wednesday that she only learned she had been buried by tons of snow after she was rescued.

As she coped with hours of darkness and no word on a rescue, Giorgia Galassi says she thought she and her boyfriend, Vincenzo Forti, had been trapped by one of the many earthquakes that have rattled central Italy in recent months.

They were two of the nine people pulled out alive after the Jan. 18 avalanche. At least 25 others died and four still remain missing in the snow and rubble in a mountain region northeast of Rome.

Galassi said they were scared but knew they would be OK because they had snow to fend off their thirst.

Israeli troops kill 1 Palestinian attacker, wound 1

JERUSALEM — Israel's military said Wednesday its soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian who intentionally rammed his vehicle into a West Bank bus stop, and later on another group of troops shot and wounded a Palestinian gunman who opened fire on them.

The incidents were the latest in over a year of Palestinian-Israeli violence.

The military said a Palestinian on Wednesday evening purposely rammed his vehicle into a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement. Troops responded to “the immediate threat” and “fired at the attacker, resulting in his death,” it said.

No Israelis were wounded, the military said, adding that the attacker had a knife.

Elsewhere in the West Bank a few hours later, a Palestinian fired from a vehicle at an army position, said the military. Soldiers wounded the gunman.

Brazil orders 11.5 million vaccines for yellow fever

SAO PAULO — Brazil's Ministry of Health has ordered 11.5 million doses of yellow fever vaccines to reinforce its stockpiles amid the largest outbreak of the disease the country has seen since 2000, officials said Wednesday.

So far during the summer rainy season, 70 cases, including 40 deaths, have been confirmed. More than 300 cases are still being investigated.

That makes it the biggest outbreak since 2000, when 85 cases were confirmed, according ministry data.

Around 5.5 million vaccine doses have already been sent to five states that have confirmed cases or are at risk, officials said.

The other 6 million ordered will arrive soon to join stockpiles.

Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne disease that causes fever, body aches, vomiting and jaundice, from which it is named.

Flag requirement: A bill advancing in the Mississippi House would require all K-12 schools to fly the state flag or lose state accreditation. One often-ignored state law says schools must fly the banner that has the Confederate battle emblem in one corner. Sometimes district officials object to the flag as racist.

Reprieve for buffalo: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has blocked the slaughter of hundreds of Yellowstone National Park bison over disease concerns until a temporary home can be found for 40 animals wanted by an American Indian tribe. The Jan. 19 executive order was obtained Wednesday by the AP.