Syrian journalist shot by ISIL in Turkey dies

Mohammed Zahir al-Sharqat, the Syrian journalist and TV presenter who was shot in an attack in Turkish city of Gaziantep has died from wounds he sustained in the violence claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

His friend announced the death of the Halab Today TV presenter which makes it the fourth assassination of a Syrian journalist in Turkey that has been claimed by ISIL.

According to his friend Barry Abdulattif, a Syrian activist, Sherqat died in a hospital in Gaziantep near the Syrian border after he was shot in the neck from close range on Sunday while out walking.

Abdulattif also revealed to the Associated Press news agency that Sherqat had received death threats from ISIL about two months ago before he was shot with the terror group taking responsibility for the attack a day after he was killed via their Amaq news agency, which said Sherqat “used to present anti-Islamic State programs.”

Read also: Turkey frees journalists accused of terrorism

According to Abdulattif, his friend who is a native of the Syrian town of Al-Bab was an imam who studied Islamic Law at Damascus University. He said Sherqat came to Turkey in 2015 after surviving an assassination attempt in Syria and started to work with Halab Today. His programmes took a stance against ISIL and other groups.

When the Syrian revolution started in 2011, Sherqat was a founding member of the local coordinating committee of al-Bab and a field organiser of demonstrations against the Syrian government.

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