MOGADISHU – Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamists have shot and killed 3 men in a public execution, including two soldiers, a sign the insurgents control southern swathes of the war-ravaged nation.
The group’s firing squad executed three men, whose names have been released as Mohamud Farah Aden, 28, Mahad Abdullahi Abukar, 29 and Mohamed Tifow Heydar 59.
Aden and Abukar were government soldiers, who were captured alive by the Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab following fighting in south of Somalia.
Heyder, a tribal elder was among the Electoral College who voted for members of the 10th parliament of Federal government of Somalia.
The Al Qaeda inspired group Al Shabaab is trying to overthrow Somalia’s UN-backed government and impose a strict form of Islamic law.
The country has been torn apart by civil war since 1991, when clan warlords overthrew a dictator before turning on each other.
Al Shabaab’s grip on the Horn of Africa nation weakened since it was pushed out of the capital by African Union peacekeepers in 2011, but government and the US military are beefing up an offensive against it.
