Man dies in shooting at Swiss mosque

A man with a handgun was later arrested by police

Police officers stand near the mosque where one person was killed during a shooting (AFP PHOTO / MICHAEL BUHOLZERMICHAEL BUHOLZER/AFP/Getty Images)

A man was killed in a shooting at a mosque in north eastern Switzerland on Friday, Swiss officials have confirmed.

Police have since arrested a man with a handgun, after a man was found dead in a prayer room of the El-Hidaje mosque in St Gallen, 85 km from Zurich.

Following gunfire at the Albanian mosque, police were called to the mosque in the suburb of the town. They said they have not yet been able to ascertain beyond doubt the identities of either man.

The motive of the killing was not immediately clear, a spokesman for the Cantonal police said.

Police were called to the mosque in the suburb of the town after gunshots were heard. Officers then apprehended an individual with a handgun, a spokesman added.

Representatives of the El-Hidaje mosque were not immediately available for comment.

A former imam of the mosque, Fehim Dragusha, told reporters that he believed the shooting was allegedly tied to a long-running feud between two families whom he knew, and it was not politically motivated.

“It's a personal conflict between two families, who were possibly settling a score,” said Dragusha, who served as the imam of the El-Hidaje mosque for three years. “It's nothing political at all.”

Around 400,000 Muslim people live in Switzerland, making up about 5 per cent of the population.

Additional reporting by Reuters