ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

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...

Boko Haram controls large swathes of territory in north-eastern Nigeria Nigeria's militant Islamists have carried out a second attack on the key north-eastern town of Baga, an official has told the BBC. Boko Haram fighters burnt down almost the entire town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base on Saturday, Musa Alhaji Bukar said. Bodies lay strewn on Baga's streets, amid fears that some 2,000 people had been killed in the raids, he added. Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state. It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year. The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.Abandoned On Monday, lawmaker Maina Maaji Lawan said Boko Haram controlled 70% of Borno state, which is worst-affected by the insurgency. Mr Bukar, a senior government official in the area, said that fleeing residents told him that the town, which had a population of abo...