Redefine progress to ensure a safer world
Progress has been frequently understood to mean improvements in technology as well as in material goods and services making possible increased and wider access to comforts and luxuries.
At least seven people were killed after several heavily armed gunmen attacked a hotel in southern Somalia, an act claimed by al-Shabaab militants, according to security official late on Friday.
Authorities said that a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the popular Medina hotel in the southern port town of Kismayo on Friday, before several heavily armed gunmen forced their way inside, shooting as they went.
The attack is the latest in a long line of bombings and assaults claimed by the al-Qaida-linked group.
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Abdi Dhuhul, a security official said, “We have confirmed the death of seven people including a former local administration minister and a lawmaker”.
“The toll may increase since the attack is not over yet”, he added.
One of the witnesses said, “I heard gunfire inside the hotel soon after the car bomb went off”.
“The blast was very big,” said another witness Hussein Muktar.
“Several gunmen entered and started shooting but the security forces responded quickly and engaged in a gunfight with the terrorists inside the building,” said security official Abdiweli Mohamed.
It was not immediately clear whether the attackers were still in the building.
Security official Abdi Dhuhul told AFP that a former local administration minister and a lawmaker were among the dead.
The militants have been carrying out frequent attacks in the capital Mogadishu, despite heavy presence of African Union peacekeepers and US-trained Somali troops.
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