Al-Shabaab execute ‘spies’ in Somalia
A file photo taken on February 13, 2012 shows Somali Al-Shabaab fighters in Elasha Biyaha. PHOTO | MOHAMED ABDIWAHAB |
What you need to know:
- The late Tuesday executions by a firing squad took place in the town of Bardhere.
MOGADISHU
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab have executed four people accused of spying for the United States, Ethiopia and the country’s internationally-backed government, officials and witnesses said.
The late Tuesday executions by a firing squad took place in the town of Bardhere, a Shabaab stronghold in Somalia’s southwestern region of Gedo, and came a week after the US said it had killed the Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants’ intelligence chief in an air strike.
“One of the spies worked with the CIA and facilitated the killing of an Al-Shabaab commander,” a Shabaab judge in the town said before the four were shot dead.
According to the judge, another had been aiding US operations in Barawe, a port town and former Shabaab stronghold captured last year by Somali and AU forces, while the other two worked for Ethiopian intelligence and Somalia’s security agency.
