Somalia's al Shabaab militants announces execution of spies

Somalia’s militant group, al Shabaab, has announced it has executed four people accused of espionage, including one who was beheaded for allegedly giving information to the United States which led to the killing of the group’s former leader.

According to al Shabaab radio, Al Andalus, the four executed men were sentenced to death on Friday afternoon “after they were proved to be working with Kenya, Somalia and the CIA.”

“They were publicly executed in a field in Bula Fulay village of Bay region,” Al Andalus said.

#Somalia #Bulafulay Al Shabaab publicly execute 4 alleged “CIA” agents. 1 by beheading, 3 by firing squad – Witness

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A local resident, Ahmed Nur, told Reuters people in the area had been asked by al Shabaab to gather near its camp.

“We thought there was a lecture, however we witnessed three men shot dead and another beheaded in front of us,” he said.

According to the radio broadcast, the beheaded man was Mohamed Aden Nur 26, accused of working with the CIA and facilitated the killing of the former group’s leader, Ahmed Godane who was killed in a US drone strike in 2014.

The Islamist group plans to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government and rule the country according to sharia law.

In 2011, the terrorist group was ejected from Mogadishu by the African Union force AMISOM, it was also pushed out of its Southern Somalia strongholds last year by a combination of AMISOM and the Somalia National Army.

However, in recent months the group has stepped up attacks on AMISOM forces and conducted gun, bomb and suicide assaults on civilian targets in Mogadishu and other towns.