Al-Shabaab terrorists execute 5 Somalis

Ahmed Adel

Somalia’s Al-Shabaab movement has executed Somalis for allegedly spying on the movement in the country’s south-central Juba province.

According to the New Somalia website, Al-Shabaab reportedly executed five people on charges of spying. This was the second execution carried out by the terrorist movement in less than a week. They were charged with espionage and providing intelligence for Somali forces trained by the United States.

The executions followed an escalation of US airstrikes targeting the terrorist group’s bases in Somalia’s southern provinces and came in response to previous recommendations by al-Qaeda leaders about dealing with what they call “Muslim spies”.

“The sentence for a spy who cooperates with infidel governments is execution,” Abu-Hayahi al-Libi, a well-known al-Qaeda figure, wrote in a book.

The increase in airstrikes carried out by US forces against the movement, especially in southern Somalia, led to a state of internal boiling, African affairs researcher Mohamed Ezzeddine said, stressing that the Somali forces rely heavily on the assistance of US forces in the war against Al-Shabaab.