Somali extremists decapitate two men

March 20, 2009 (MOGADISHU) –- The Somali extremist organization of Al-Shebab decapitated two men from a rival group on Thursday.

The two old men were beheaded in Balad, a small agricultural town located at 30 klm from Mogadishu. Al-Shebab arrested the two wounded men while they were transported to the capital for treatment.

The two elders of Ahlu-sunah Wal-jamea were injured by stray bullets during the clashes. A spokesperson of the moderate group said they told Al Sehebab that they didn’t take part in the fighting but they decapitated them.

Al-Shebab and Ahlu –Sunah ajmea, clashed several times last year. The local group accused Al-Shebab of harassing their members and destroying the tomb of revered sheiks.

The Somali government has been losing territory to Islamist Al-Shebab, which have made the greatest territorial gains in the past few months, and seek to impose Islamic law in the country.

Ussama Ben Laden, the chief of an international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, urged Somalis in an audio tape on Thursday to topple the new president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist elected this year.

Violence in Somalia has killed more than 16,000 civilians since the start of 2007, driven more than a million more from their homes and left about a third of the population depending on food aid.

(ST)