Somalia's Shebab executes three CIA, MI6 'spies'

MOGADISHU - Agence France-Presse

African Union soldiers take position during fighting in Balad town, Middle Shabelle region, on June 26, 2012. AFP photo

Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents have executed three members for "spying" for Western intelligence agencies, officials said Monday.
 
Two of the men were accused of having in January attached a satellite tracker device to a car used by Al-Qaeda operatives, which was later struck by a missile, killing two.
 
"The three defendants were found guilty of spying...one of them worked for the British intelligence agency MI6 and the two others were spying for the CIA," said Sheikh Abdalla Al-Haq, the Shebab's chief judge.
 
The three men, aged between 25 and 30 according to witnesses, were shot by firing squad in a public execution in the port town of Merka late Sunday.
 
"All of them confessed to the charges against them, and the punishment is death," Al-Haq said.
 
"One of them was shouting when they dropped him off and after the judge read the verdict, they were blindfolded and shot," said Abidaziz Moalim, a witness.
 
"Al-Shebab officials used loud speakers on pickup trucks to call people to gather for the execution, hundreds of people came to watch," said Idris Nure, another witness.