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| Somali militants execute 'spies' | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Islamist militants in Somalia have executed two people they accused of spying for foreign organisations. | Islamist militants in Somalia have executed two people they accused of spying for foreign organisations. |
| Hundreds watched as a firing squad arranged by the al-Shabab group shot the pair in the capital, Mogadishu. | Hundreds watched as a firing squad arranged by the al-Shabab group shot the pair in the capital, Mogadishu. |
| Al-Shabab officials said the men had been found guilty of working for the US CIA and African Union peacekeepers. | Al-Shabab officials said the men had been found guilty of working for the US CIA and African Union peacekeepers. |
| Analysts say the killings may have been in retaliation for a US raid earlier this month, in which an al-Qaeda suspect is said to have been killed. | Analysts say the killings may have been in retaliation for a US raid earlier this month, in which an al-Qaeda suspect is said to have been killed. |
| The US regards al-Shabab as a proxy for al-Qaeda in Somalia, and says the group threatens to destabilise the region. | |
| One witness to the execution told AP news agency that 10 al-Shabab fighters shot the pair in Mogadishu's main livestock market in front of hundreds of people. | |
| Islamist rebels control much of central and southern Somalia, including parts of the capital city. | |
| Al-Shabab is attempting to impose an extreme brand of Islamic law on the areas it controls. | |
| Its courts, usually held in the open, have in the past sentenced people to execution, amputations and public floggings. | |
| Al-Shabab is fighting troops loyal to the government - which controls little territory and is backed by the US, UN and peacekeepers from the AU. | |
| Other radical Islamists, who are allied to al-Shabab in some areas and fight them in other places, also vie for control of large parts of the country. | |
| The country has been wracked by conflict since 1991, when it last had an effective national government. | |
| Some three million people - half the population - need food aid, while hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country. |