A government-allied Somali militia killed at least 45 al Shabaab fighters and beheaded some of them, three witnesses said on Sunday, as citizens in central regions of the country increasingly take up arms against the insurgents.
The beheadings on Saturday followed a battle in the Hiran region of Hirshabelle State, where there has been significant fighting this month between al Shabaab and newly expanded militias allied with the federal government.
Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group, has been fighting Somalia's weak central government since 2006. It wants to implement a strict interpretation of sharia law.
