Girls killed by Islamist firing squad in Somalia

Girls killed by Islamist firing squad in Somalia

Victims reported to be 18 or younger were shot in front of hundreds of residents in Beledweyne, near border with Ethiopia

Xan Rice in Nairobi and agencies
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Islamist militants in Somalia. The al-Shabaab rebel movement has shot dead two young girls in the country after accusing them of spying for the government. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

An Islamist militia in Somalia has publicly shot dead two teenage girls by firing squad after accusing them of spying for the government, it emerged today.

The victims – reported to be 18 or younger – were killed in front of hundreds of residents in Beledweyne, near the border with Ethiopia.

The town is controlled by the hardline al-Shabaab rebel movement, which has become notorious for its extreme form of punishment, including stonings and cross-amputations, for various crimes, usually adultery and theft.

The killings, which happened on Wednesday, are believed to the first instance of any females in Somalia being executed for spying. The girls' relatives denied they were guilty of the charge.

According to eyewitnesses accounts, a Shabaab "judge" sentenced the girls to death shortly before they were executed. No evidence was presented, and the two were not allowed legal representation.

Militiamen then used pickup tricks with loudspeakers on the back to summon residents to attend the ceremony at the Islamists' headquarters. They were warned not to take mobile phone pictures.

The girls – named by the Associated Press as Ayan Mohamed Jama, 18, and Huriyo Ibrahim, 15 – were brought to the site blindfolded, with their hands bound. They were made to sit on the ground. About 10 masked men then shot them.

"Two very young girls were shot ... and no one could help," Dahir Casowe, a local elder, said.

After the execution, the local Shabaab commander, Sheikh Yusuf Ali Ugas, told the crowd that Islamist fighters had arrested the girls last week. He claimed hey had confessed to the crime, and said dozens of other people in custody faced a similar fate.

The girls reportedly came from poor families, and had not been attending school due to a lack of funds.

Ayan's father, Mohamed Jama, confirmed that his daughter had been in custody for a week, and said he had been refused permission to visit her.

"Al-Shabaab officials ... told me that she was captured during fighting between the militants and the government soldiers outside the town and that she would be brought before court," he said. "As I waited for good news, she was killed on Wednesday. I am shocked and cannot say more."

The public punishments have a duel purpose for the Shabaab – to restore security in areas under their control by deterring would-be criminals, and to create a climate of fear so locals are too terrified to show dissent or offer support to the government.

Together with another Ismalist militia, Hizbul Islam, Shabaab fighters are trying to overthrow President Sheik Sharif Ahmed's weak administration, which is protected in Mogadishu by 8,000 African Union peacekeepers.

Infighting among ministers and the inability to provide even basic services on the ground has lost the government the sympathy of most Somalis and allowed insurgents to take over much of south and central Somalia since early 2009.

But the Islamists' extreme version of the their religion, which runs counter to Somali tradition, has seen their own support whittled away.

In a statement condemning the executions, Somalia's information ministry said: "This act of killing innocent children does not have Islamic and humanitarian justifications.

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