Canadian-Somali TV personality Hodan Nalayeh was among those killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab extremists on a hotel in Somalia on Friday, according to a local report.

A Somali official speaking to the Associated Press on Friday said 10 people were killed in a suicide bombing that took place on a hotel in Kismayo. According to the official, many of the victims were patrons at the hotel and included two journalists.

Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamic rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Associated Press.

Hassan Gesey, director of Mogadishu-based media outlet Radio Dalsan, confirmed to the Star that Hodan was killed in the attack along with her husband.

Global Affairs Canada did not confirm the death of Nalayeh as of Friday evening, but said it was aware of the bombing and “is in contact with local authorities to gather additional information.”

Nalayeh, a resident of Vaughan, Ont., is the founder of Integration TV, a weekly television show that aired on OMNI TV and shared inspiring and uplifting stories of the Somali community from both inside Somalia and in the larger diaspora.

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She is known as an “icon” among the Somali diaspora, whose volunteer and advocacy work supported Somali-Canadian youth.

“Hodan made immeasurable contributions to the Canadian Somali community,” said Immigration Minister to Ahmed Hussen in a statement to the Star. “We mourn her loss deeply, and all others killed in the Kismayo attack.”

“She was an amazing person with an amazing heart,” said Mohamed Gialo, a close friend of Nalayeh, who said she helped find his daughter employment after his daughter graduated university. “She was a person who motivated the youth in our community and always worked to help them get the support they needed.”

Reports of Nalayeh’s death spread quickly on social media and left those who knew her in shock.

“This is truly devastating,” said Deqa Nur, a member of the Somali-Canadian community in Toronto, who remembers seeing Nalayeh last year attending a youth conference.

“I admired her so much for her work, and I’m still proud of her for giving back to the Somali community,” she said. “She told stories of the most vulnerable people in some of the most challenging situations.”

Nur said Nalayeh’s death is a tragedy, not only for the Somali community, but for Canada as a whole. She said Nalayeh was “a symbol of hope,” having lived in difficult conditions in Somalia in her young age before coming to Canada and succeeding in life and then returning to Somalia to help others.

“Many of us could have lost our lives to bullets or hunger or diseases,” she said of many Somalis who immigrated to Canada. “It’s so sad that she went to give back, and, now, even that has been taken away from her.”

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In a series of tweets posted on Wednesday, Nalayeh chronicled the life and struggles of young men from the island of Ilis near the city of Kismayo, who sell fish to the city.

“It was an incredible day to witness Somalia’s beauty on the island of Ilis,” she wrote in one tweet, which she accompanied with #Kismayo #Somalia #MySomalia hashtags.

It was the last tweet she wrote.