BAIDOA– Somalia’s Al-Shabab militant group have executed five people it accused of spying for the United States and Ethiopia.
Speaking at the execution square in Tiyeglow in South Western Bakool region, Al-Shabab said the five men were found guilty of being informants for the U.S and Ethiopia.
The five men have been identified as;
Aweys Hajj Hassan, 42, Abdirahman Omar Mubarak 21, Zakaria Yusuf Housein 30, Ibrahim Hassan Mohamed 49 and Mohamed Abubakar aged 34 years.
According to the militants, some of the five executees have been working as informants for Ethiopia and United States for a long time.
Eyewitnesses said the five men were brought in pickups by hooded Shabab members with their hands tight behind their back.
Thousands of local residents turn out at the open square to watch the executions by a firing squad.
Al-Shabaab is synonymous with executing people they deemed are intelligent agents for Somalia government and its international partners.
In 2016, Al-Shabab carried similar executions where they killed four people for espionage in Bula Fulay village of Bay region in South West Somalia.
Somalia security forces backed by international partners have in recent months heightened operations against the militant group which yielded positive results.
The government liberated several areas and strategic towns which were previously a safe haven and a stronghold for the Al-qaeda affiliate group.
Islamist group is trying to destabilise the Somalia’s Western-backed government and impose its own strict interpretation of the Islamic law.
