Militant Group Accuses Victims of Spying as Executions in Middle Juba and Lower Shabelle Mark One of Largest Single-Day Killings.
Ten men shot dead in public squares. Residents forced to watch. Al-Shabaab sends a message at the start of Ramadan.
Al-Shabaab has publicly executed 10 men it accused of spying for the Federal Government of Somalia and foreign states, in what appears to be one of the group’s largest single-day executions in recent years.
The killings took place Friday in two separate incidents in southern Somalia. In Bu’aale, a stronghold in Middle Juba region, five men were shot by a firing squad in an open area after what the group described as a ruling by its sharia court. Local residents were ordered to gather and witness the executions.
Eyewitnesses said the men were killed at close range and their bodies left on display for hours under the sun before being buried later by the militants.
On the same day, five more men were executed in Kunyo-Barrow in Lower Shabelle region. Residents of the agricultural town were similarly summoned to watch.
Al-Shabaab claimed its court had convicted the men of espionage. All those executed were Somali nationals. The group has repeatedly accused detainees of aiding government forces or facilitating drone strikes in areas under its control.
Sources say Al-Shabaab often detains individuals pulled from passenger vehicles, especially those suspected of having family ties to Somali security forces or government officials.
Trials in Al-Shabaab-controlled territory are conducted behind closed doors. There is no access to independent legal representation, and journalists are barred from reporting inside areas held by the group, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
The executions, carried out at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, are widely seen as a show of force aimed at deterring dissent and reinforcing the group’s grip on communities under its control.
