Turk killed in Somalia shooting: Police

MOGADISHU - Agence France-Presse

In this file photo, Somali security forces arrive to the site of a bomb blast near Makka al-Mukarama Road in the Somali capital Mogadishu on December 19, 2015. AFP Photo

Unidentified gunmen on Jan. 1 shot dead a man believed to be a Turkish national in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police and witnesses said.

The assailants opened fire on a "foreign national" near a mosque in the northwestern district of the city, said police official Mohamed Abidrahman.
 
"We don't have details but the initial information we have obtained indicates that a Turkish citizen was shot dead," added the official.    

The Turkish Embassy could not immediately be reached for reaction.
 
"Three light-skinned men got out of a mosque after performing Friday prayers when they were attacked," said witness Abdukadir Ali.
 
"One of them was killed in the attack and the other two have escaped," Ali said.
 
"I have heard the victim was a Turkish engineer who was working with a Turkish company."  

No group immediately claimed responsibility but Shebab Islamic extremists affiliated to al-Qaeda have carried out such attacks in the past.
 
The group, driven from the capital in 2011 and also from their main central and southern fiefdoms, still control extensive rural zones.
 
From there, they launch guerilla operations and suicide attacks as they target the fragile government and the African Union force shoring it up.