An official from Qatar's interior ministry told Xinhua Monday that a total of 19 people were killed and 17 others were wounded in a fire earlier in the day at a shopping mall in the capital.

Smoke is seen from a fire at the Villagio Mall, in Doha's west end, May 28, 2012. The Qatar-based satellite network Al Jazeera said 19 people were killed, including 13 children, on Monday in a fire at an upscale mall in the Qatari capital.[Photo/Agencies]

Among the dead, 13 were children, and four were teachers, while another two were security personnel, and four of the wounded were children, the official said.

According to a foreign ministry source in Madrid, four of the dead children were Spanish.

Amateur videos posted online show black smoke rising from the up-scale shopping mall and emergency vehicles blocking the scene.

The fire took place around midday Monday in the Villaggio mall in the west end of Doha, which is popular among the expatriate community in the oil-rich Gulf country boasting one of the world's highest living standards.