Somali Government Claims Al-Shabab Executed Innocent
29 September
Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government has condemned the execution of two men Monday by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants and says al-Shabab murdered innocent civilians. Somali government spokesman Farhan Asanyo says the two Somali men executed by a firing squad in the capital Mogadishu had no ties to the government or to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, as al-Shabab alleged.Asanyo says the men were innocent Somalis falsely accused and murdered by al-Shabab militants. The spokesman charged that al-Shabab often targets people without evidence of any wrongdoing. The executions were carried in front of hundreds of spectators after an al-Shabab-run court found one man guilty of working as spy for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia and the other of providing intelligence to the CIA. Al-Shabab officials said the pair admitted their crimes before being sentenced to death. Al-Shabab is the most powerful of several Islamist insurgent groups attempting to overthrow Somalia's transitional federal government and force the withdrawal of 5,000 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers from Mogadishu. The militant group, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Australia, is considered to be a proxy group for al-Qaida. Two weeks ago, one of al-Qaida's top operatives in the region, Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, was reportedly killed in a U.S. Special Forces operation in southern Somalia. U.S. counter-terrorism officials believe Nabhan was also a senior al-Shabab official, who provided a link between the Somali group and the al-Qaida leadership based in Pakistan..more..http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-29-voa51.cfm
MOGADISHU, Somalia — An extremist Islamic group has executed two Somali men in the country's capital, accusing them of being spies for foreign organizations.A firing squad of 10 al-Shabab men killed the two on Monday in Mogadishu's main livestock market, says Said Yusuf, who was one of hundreds of witnesses.Al-Shabab's Mogadishu chief Ali Mohamed Hussein says the group carried out the executions after determining the men worked for the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.Al-Shabab controls large parts of southern Somalia and its members vow allegiance to al-Qaida. It has carried out several whippings, amputations and executions to enforce its own strict interpretation of Islam.http://www.news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=92820090858H\T fromreflector
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