Turkish citizenship Killed in Mogadishu by Suspected Al-Shabaab

MOGADISHU- Suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen have shot and killed Turkish engineer working with Turkish aid agencies in Mogadishu on Friday, police and eyewitnesses confirmed.

The engineer who was identified as Kamal was shot and dead by two assailants shortly after he left a local mosque where he performed the Friday Prayers around 1.00pm local time, said Capt. Ali Mohamud, a police officer at Hodan District Police Station, the district where the shooting took place.

The bullets that killed the Turkish national also killed a 5-year old Somali girl named as Hawo Hassan who was playing outside their home at the time of the shooting, the police officer said.

“The police reached the crime scene minutes after the incident, but none of the attackers were arrested. We believe to have escaped.” he added.

An eyewitness at the scene who asked his identity withheld because of security matters said he saw the two armed men in a small car shooting the Turkish man moments after leaving the mosque.

Worshipers from the same mosque, where the Turkish man prayed and residents ran to their shelter as the firing started.

The attack was claimed by Al-Shabaab militant group. In a statement published to one of its propaganda websites, the group said its armed men killed one of the “foreigners invaded the country”.

The attack came as the country’s National Intelligence Agency (NISA) claimed it foiled another planned attack by Al-Shabaab on the biggest base of the African Union Mission in Somalia known as AMISOM.

Hundreds of Turkish nationals working as aid workers and civil servants are operating in Mogadishu to help rebuild the now fragile nation to get back into its feet.

Most of the Turkish aid agencies entered Somalia following the severe 2011 drought that hit the country and led the death of thousands of Somalis.

 

Kasmaal Information Center
London/UK