Somalia executes three al Shabaab members over 2017 hotel attack

Somalia executed three men on Wednesday convicted of participating in the bombing of a Mogadishu hotel that killed 18 people in 2017 as members of the insurgent group al Shabaab, the state-run news agency said.

“They were accused of being al Shabaab members. They were also among the attackers in the bombing of the Nasahablod Two Hotel, in which 18 people died and 47 others were injured,” Somalia’s state news agency said on its website.

They were executed by gunshot.

Al Shabaab, an Islamist militant group which is trying to topple Somalia’s central government, was ejected from Mogadishu in 2011 and has since been driven from most of its other strongholds.

It remains a threat, with fighters frequently carrying out bombings in Somalia and neighboring Kenya, whose troops form part of the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force that helps defend the Somali government.