ISIS and Al Shabaab Militants Executed in Puntland State of Somalia

Five men convicted of being members of Al Shabaab and ISIS groups were publicly executed by firing squad in the Northeastern Somalia’s State of Puntland on Thursday.

 The militants were blindfolded, with hands tied to poles behind their backs, before they have been shot dead at point-blank range by soldiers in Bosaso port city, the commercial hub of Puntland.

 A local military court has handed down the death sentences against the men whom four of them are under the age of 25. The executed suspects are identified as Ibrahim Guudow, Farah Said Farah, Abdulkadir Sheikh, Shafici Hussein Moalim, and Hassan Lamow Aden.

 Al Shabaab and ISIS faction assassinated dozens of Puntland officials and security force members in the past as the two groups continue to face increased military pressure and U.S. airstrikes in the mountainous area in Bari region.

 The Al Qaeda affiliated Al Shabaab has become active in Puntland after being pushed out of strongholds further south by an African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM, Somali National army, and airstrikes of allied western forces.

 In June 2017, its fighters overran a military base in Af Urur, a town about 100 km south of Bosasso, killing dozens of people, most of them Puntland defense force soldiers, the deadliest single attack in Puntland history.

 Separately, four Al Shabaab suspects appeared before the Somali military Court in Mogadishu and charged with membership of the rebel group. These four are accused of the murder of Government soldiers, civilians and attempted assassinations.