Somalia Executes Al-Shabaab Fighters for Killing Journalist

Two members of Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Al-Shabaab jihadist group were executed by firing squad Saturday for the murder of a journalist killed by a car bomb last year, a judge said.

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Abdirisak Mohamed Barow and Hassan Nur Ali, who admitted being part of the terror faction, sometimes know as Shebab, during their trial, were shot on Saturday morning in Mogadishu, according to Abdulahi Hussein Mohamed, deputy judge of the supreme military court.

"Both of them were found guilty of murdering journalist Hindiyo Haji Mohamed whose car was blown with explosive device," Hussein said.

National television journalist Mohamed was killed in December when his car blew up as he returned home from a university class in Mogadishu.

The military court recently rejected an appeal by the men and subsequently increased their sentence from life imprisonment to execution.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists to operate, with some attacks believed to be linked to score-settling among the multiple factions in power, as well as by the Shebab.

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The group Reporters Without Borders ranks Somalia 172nd out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom. Mohamed was the 38th journalist killed doing his job in the country since 2010, the group said.

Al-Shabaab rebels have carried out repeated attacks in Somalia and neighboring Kenya as part of their fight to overthrow the internationally-backed Somali Federal Government, as well as the African Union troops supporting it, which include Kenyan soldiers.