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Al-Shabab Kills 18 in Surge of Executions

Harun Maruf

   Somali militant group al-Shabab has executed 18 people since Wednesday,
   an unprecedented rate of executions for the group, which is under
   pressure from U.S. airstrikes.

   Militants put to death four people in the southern town of Jamame on
   Sunday, immediately after the judge in an al-Shabab court declared them
   guilty.

   Firing squads shot and killed two men accused of being Somali
   government soldiers and a woman accused of being a spy for Kenya. The
   militants identified the woman as 20-year-old Iqra Abdi Aden.

   Afterward, an 18-year-old man, Nur Bakar Jirow, was publicly stoned to
   death for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl. The man argued the sex
   was consensual, but the judge said he deserved the death penalty
   because he was married at the time.