Somalia executes 10 Islamist group al Shabaab terrorists for bombings

Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland executed 10 fighters from the Islamist terrorist group al Shabaab on Saturday.

The Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab, affiliated with Al Qaeda, emerged in the early 2000s to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. Somalia has been plagued by instability for over two decades, lacking a functional national government and witnessing widespread conflict.

The executions, by firing squad, in Galkayo in the state’s Mudug region, followed a trial of the fighters in a military court where they were sentenced to death for involvement in assassinations and bombings in several locations in Galkayo.

The executed fighters “were previously sentenced to death by the supreme court of the armed forces, after they were found to have committed murders in the city of Galkayo”, police cited by AFP as saying.

Al-Shabaab initially garnered support by promising to provide security to the population. However, its reputation suffered a significant blow when it refused Western food aid during the devastating 2011 drought and famine, which further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents have been fighting for nearly two decades aiming to topple Somalia’s central government and establish their own rule based on the group’s strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

An Al-Shabaab suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a busy beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu killing 37 people and wounding scores more, officials said on Saturday, in one of the deadliest strikes in the East African country in months.

In June, five people were killed in a powerful car bomb blast at a cafe in the capital last month.

In March, militants killed three people and wounded 27 in an hours-long siege of another Mogadishu hotel, breaking a relative lull in the fighting.

With inputs from agencies.