Turkish Airlines Employee Killed in Somalia Attack

A Turkish Airlines security coordinator in Mogadishu was killed in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday, officials said.

"A vehicle carrying Turkish Airlines staff in Mogadishu came under attack," Turkish Airlines spokesman Ali Genc wrote on Twitter, naming the victim as Saadettin Dogan.

"We got information that a Turkish citizen was shot dead near K4 and it was a drive-by shooting," police official Ahmed Ali told Agence France Presse in Mogadishu, referring to a key junction in the Somali capital.

"We don't know the motive nor the killers so far," he said.

Turkey has been very active in Mogadishu, where continued attacks by the al-Qaida-inspired Shebab group has prevented the return of any significant Western presence.

Turkish Airlines (THY) is the only major international airline to fly to Somalia.

A Turkish foreign ministry official told AFP that Dogan was hit by four bullets fired by unidentified assailants and added that a Somali national who was in the same vehicle was seriously wounded in the attack.

He said the motive of the attack was not clear and added that an investigation had been launched.

Dogan was in charge of a private company handling the airline's security in Mogadishu.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Shebab Islamists have in the past vowed to attack Turkish interests.

In 2013, the group claimed a suicide car bomb attack on a Turkish embassy annex in Mogadishu, killing a Turkish guard and a Somali bystander.

In 2011, Ankara launched a major diplomatic, economic and humanitarian push in the war-torn country, becoming one of only a handful of nations to dare open an embassy in Mogadishu.

It was opened following a visit in August by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, only the second major leader to visit post-civil war Mogadishu, a few months after Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.

Direct flights between Somalia and Turkey started in March 2012. Turkey has helped build hospitals and renovate other buildings in the capital.