A GOVERNMENT-ALLIED Somali militia killed at least 45 al Shabaab fighters and beheaded some of them, three witnesses said on Sunday, as citizens in central regions of the country increasingly take up arms against the insurgents.
The beheadings on Saturday followed a battle in the Hiran region of Hirshabelle State, where there has been significant fighting this month between al Shabaab and newly expanded militias allied with the federal government.
Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group, has been fighting Somalia’s weak central government since 2006. It wants to implement a strict interpretation of sharia law.
Al Shabaab has increasingly burned houses, destroyed wells, and beheaded civilians in the Hiran region, residents say; that, combined with its demands for taxes amidst the worst drought in 40 years, has pushed more residents to take up arms.
‘Al Shabaab is not strong, it just burns people, beheads people and put their heads in the streets just to terrorize,’ said Ahmed Abdulle, a Hiran elder.
‘Now, we are doing the same: we have ordered the beheading of al Shabaab fighters,’ he told Reuters.
Videos widely shared on Telegram showed at least two beheaded alleged al Shabaab fighters and dozens more dead bodies in fatigues and red-and-white checked scarves. Some of the dead appeared to have died in battle.
