MOGADISHU, Somalia

Somali journalists on Friday held a protest to condemn the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead while covering an Israeli raid at Jenin refugee camp in occupied West Bank.

While Palestinian officials and the Doha-based network say Israeli forces killed the veteran correspondent, there have been international calls for a probe.

Journalists including representatives from the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and Somali Media Association (SOMA) demonstrated at the Maka al-Mukarama street in the capital Mogadishu.

"We are in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Al Jazeera network as they mourn the loss of their colleague Shireen Abu Akleh," said Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the SJS secretary-general. "We call for an independent investigation to bring the killers to book," he added. "Journalism is not a crime."

“We are in shock that even journalists clearly wearing a press jacket are targeted and shot dead," said Mohamed Osman Makaran, secretary-general of SOMA. "We condemn this attack as an attack against all journalists in the world."

Abshir Nur Mohamed Faransa, a radio and TV journalist in Mogadishu, said journalists must be allowed to do their job, without fear of favor, wherever they are.

Hussein Mohamed, a stringer for The New York Times in Somalia, said Abu Akleh was a household name in Arab journalism, and a role model and mentor for many in Palestine and beyond. "I was shocked when I heard the news of her killing," he told Anadolu Agency.

“An attack on a single journalist is an attack on all journalists,'' said Samira Abdiaziz, a freelance journalist, adding that the perpetrators must be held accountable.