Somalia's al-Shabab kills 'CIA and Ethiopian spies'

Several top officials of the al-Qaeda-linked group have either defected or have been killed in recent months

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab has killed by firing squad four men accused of spying for the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

The men, who included two government soldiers, were shot in front of a large crowd in the southern town of Bardhere, witnesses said.

A court run by al-Shabab had earlier convicted them of spying for the CIA, Ethiopia and the Somali government.

US air strikes have killed two senior al-Shabab commanders in recent months.

'Blindfolded'

"One of the spies worked with the CIA and facilitated the killing of an al-Shabab commander," a judge in the al-Shabab-run court said.

He did not name the commander, but al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US air strike in September and last month its intelligence chief, Tahlil Abdishakur, was assassinated in a similar strike in southern Somalia.

Somalia's army has been fighting the militants with help from African Union troops

Abdishakur's killing came just days after his predecessor, Zakariya Ahmed Ismail Hersi, gave himself up to the Somali government.

Bardhere resident Ali Ronow told the AFP news agency that hundreds of people watched the killing of the four suspected spies on Tuesday.

"The men were blindfolded and shot from the back by a team of hooded gunmen," he is quoted as saying.

Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, is notorious for killing by firing squad suspected spies.

In 2011, Muslim cleric Ahmed Ali Hussein was chained and shot dead after being accused of being a CIA spy and belonging to a sect opposed to the group.

Al-Shabab is fighting to create an Islamic state, but has lost key towns and cities in recent years to African Union (AU) and Somali government forces.

The AU has about 22,000 troops fighting al-Shabab in Somalia.

Neighbouring Ethiopia, which sees the Islamists as a major threat to its security, also has troops in the country. Some of them are part of the AU force while others operate independently.

Various armed groups have been battling for control of Somalia since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991.

Comments

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

Search This Blog