MOGADISHU, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Somali Deputy Attorney General was shot dead by two armed men while driving a car in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, officials said late Wednesday.

Hassan Gelle, a police officer told reporters that two armed men with pistols shot Mohamed Mursal, a deputy attorney general in Sigale village in Mogadishu's Hodan district.

"The armed men ordered the deputy attorney general to get off his car and shot him dead, they sped off with the deceased's car, but the police later found it abandoned on the roadside," said Gelle.

Eyewitnesses reported the event saying they heard gun shots at the scene of murder.

"Two armed men riding in a three-wheeled motorcycle stopped the car of the deputy attorney general and then opened fire on him and he died on the spot," Hawa Hussein, a local resident told Xinhua.

On September 27, 2017, armed men shot Mursal's mother, Anab Hashi who was the general secretary of National Women Organization at the junction of Hamar Weyne District of Mogadishu.

Al-Qaida affiliated group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the murder of the Deputy Attorney General.