Somali intelligence believe both suicide bombers - a man and a woman - were Dutch-Somali citizens who infiltrated the Central Hotel close to the presidential palace ahead of the attack.
Sources within the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) said the man, identified as Ismail Muse, exploded a bomb in a car parked at the hotel while the woman, Lula Ahmed Dahir, detonated her explosive vest inside the hotel's prayer room.
"Her relationship to the male attacker... Is not yet known but thought to be very close, if not husband," said the report.
The attack left 25 people dead including two MPs, the deputy mayor of Mogadishu, the Prime Minister's private secretary and the deputy PM's chief of staff.
Deputy PM Mohamed Arte, the minister of transport and minister of port and marine resources were among dozens of injured.
Heavy gunfire followed the two explosions as nervous security forces searched the hotel compound.
Thick clouds of black smoke were seen pouring from the hotel as the injured were rushed to hospital.
Shebab militants quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Our fighters attacked the Central Hotel," Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP, saying that the aim had been "to kill the apostate officials."
Shebab rebels have staged a string of assaults in their fight to overthrow the country's internationally-backed government. They have targeted hotels, the international airport, the presidential palace known as Villa Somalia, a UN compound and restaurants.
