Mogadishu — A Somali journalist was killed by unidentified gunmen in Mogadishu on Friday, marking the first journalist murder in Somalia in the new year 2013 following last year ' s 12 journalist killings in Somalia, Garowe Online reports.

Abdi Hared Osman, a journalist working for t he pr ivately owned Radio Shabelle in Mogadishu, was killed near a marketplace in Mogadishu 's Wadajir district. Radio Shabelle journalists said th e victim was planning to go to work on Frid ay morning.

The victim was rushed to Medina Hospital but later died from gunshot wounds on the nec k , stomac h, and lower body.

The unidentified killers used pistols to commit the crime before fleeing the scene, witnesses reported. Radio Shabelle director Abdi Mohamed Ismail has confirmed to Puntland-based independent Radio Garowe that the victim Mr. Osman left behind a wife and two young children , including a weeks-old baby.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killing. In 2012, the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) reported that 12 journalists were killed in Somalia, the second highest in the world after Sy ria, with most of the killings occurring in Mogadishu.