Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a soldier overnight Sunday in the northern Somali port city of Bossaso, in the country's northeast, reliable sources said.

Osman Said was shot to the death while shopping at a local market near the presidential palace in Bossaso, the commercial hub of the semiautonomous state of Puntland.

The victim was a member of security forces protecting Gen. Adde Muse, the president of Puntland, according to those who knew him.

Police officials would not comment on the motive for the killing and did not have any suspects. But independent sources in Bossaso told Garowe Online that the killers are linked to a gang of suspected kidnappers who were targeted in a police raid last week.

Two of the suspected kidnappers were killed in the shootout with Puntland police.

The gang is accused of twin kidnappings of foreigners in Bossaso last month. Ransom was paid for the safe release of a total of three foreigners in both cases, according to reliable sources.

In Bossaso, clan elders and Puntland officials continued talks to ease clan tensions after militias rushed to aid the suspects in the raid, to the detriment of Puntland police.