Somalia: Al-Shabab militant sentenced to death for deadly blast

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The military court of Somalia's armed forces has issued Tuesday various sentences for 4 men convicted of a deadly truck bombing in Mogadishu last October that killed 512 people, Garowe Online reports.

The court chairman Gen. Hassan Nur Shuute announced the verdict, saying Hassan Aden Isack was sentenced to death penalty for his role in the country’s deadliest ever attack at Zoobe junction on 14th October 2017.

Isack was captured while driving a Toyota NOAH intended to be used in a second bombing on the same day. His explosives-filled vehicle went off in Danwadaha area in Bulo-Hubey village, close to the site of the first lethal blast.

The convict, according to the court was also the head of Al-Shabab assassinations in Mogadishu targeting Somali security force members, civil servants and those collaborating with the government.

No group claimed the responsibility for the explosion, but the Federal government said it bore all the hallmarks of Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant group linked to Al Qaeda.

Abdullahi Ibrahim Hassan Absuge was given life in prison in absentia. He was found guilty of bringing the truck into Mogadishu, while Abdiweli Ahmed Dirie has been sentenced to a 3-year jail sentence.

General Shuute said the men can take an appeal otherwise the sentence will be carried out accordingly.

Meanwhile, the court has ordered to set free Mukhtar Mohamud Hassan Rooble and Abdullahi who were acquitted after no credible evidence against them were brought before the court during the hearings.

GAROWE ONLINE