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Somalia's al-Shabab says it has killed British spy | Somalia's al-Shabab says it has killed British spy |
(35 minutes later) | |
Somali militant group al-Shabab says it has killed five men it accuses of spying, including one British national. | Somali militant group al-Shabab says it has killed five men it accuses of spying, including one British national. |
The five men, aged between 22 and 36, were shot dead in a public execution on Tuesday in an area under the control of the Islamist group. | |
According to a jihadi website, the Briton had admitted giving information to British intelligence services about al-Shabab supporters living in the UK. | |
Another was said to be working for the Somali government. | Another was said to be working for the Somali government. |
That individual is alleged to have attached a device to a vehicle in an al-Shabab convoy which had then helped American drones to carry out an air strike. | |
Al-Shabab told Reuters news agency that three of the men were US spies who had helped guide drones to carry out strikes in Somalia. | |
The UK, US and Somali governments have not yet commented on the reports. | The UK, US and Somali governments have not yet commented on the reports. |
Separately, local media report that suspected al-Shabab militants have killed two teachers and set fire to a staff room at a school in northern Kenya, close to the Somali border. | |
How big a threat is al-Shabab? | How big a threat is al-Shabab? |
Al-Shabab, which is part of al-Qaeda, was forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011 by a combination of Somali government forces and African Union troops but it still operates freely in many rural parts of southern Somalia, where it often enforces Islamic law, or Sharia. | Al-Shabab, which is part of al-Qaeda, was forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011 by a combination of Somali government forces and African Union troops but it still operates freely in many rural parts of southern Somalia, where it often enforces Islamic law, or Sharia. |
This is not the first time it has killed people it accused of spying. | This is not the first time it has killed people it accused of spying. |
In December 2017, al-Shabab killed five men, among them a teenage boy, whom it accused of working for US and Kenyan intelligence. | In December 2017, al-Shabab killed five men, among them a teenage boy, whom it accused of working for US and Kenyan intelligence. |
As well as battling for control of parts of Somalia, al-Shabab has staged terror attacks across East Africa. | |
In 2013 in neighbouring Kenya, 67 people were killed in a mass shooting by al-Shabab militants at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi. | |
The group was also behind Somalia's deadliest bombing, in which at least 500 people were killed by a truck laden with explosives in Mogadishu last year. |