clipped from: www.nytimes.com MOGADISHU — Islamic insurgents trying to overthrow the government of Somalia cut off the right hands and left legs of four young men accused of theft on Thursday, bringing their strict brand of justice to the capital for the first time, witnesses said.
The Shabab, one of the principal Islamic groups fighting to topple the government, has imposed harsh sentences in other parts of the country that it controls and, at least on one occasion, stoned to death a teenage girl who said she had been raped, an act that drew international condemnation.
But residents described the amputations on Thursday as the first in the capital since a clan-based Islamic court carried out similar sentences about 15 years ago. Analysts said the Shabab, which is accused of having links to Al Qaeda, may be trying to win popular support in the capital by showing that it can achieve stability in the chaotic nation through a firm enactment of Shariah, or Islamic law.