The Somalia-based extremist group announced through its Andalus radio station on Tuesday that a man and a teenager were shot to death after they were seen having gay sex.

An al-Shabab governor told the news agency Reuters that 20-year-old Isak Abshirow and 15-year-old Abdirizak Sheikh Ali were found committing a homosexual act by al-Shabab fighters. The man and teenager were arrested by the group's "Islamic police" and were then convicted by a court run by the militants, with the organization's self-proclaimed judge calling the sexual acts "immoral."

Saeed Mohamed Ali was also executed after being found guilty of spying for Ethiopian troops, who form part of an African force that fights against the Islamic militants.

"The judge read their charges publicly and the three men were found guilty. They were executed according to the Islamic sharia," a senior al-Shabab official said.

The so-called executions were carried out in a public square in Buale, a city in Somalia's Middle Jubba region, where hundreds reportedly gathered to watch the three men being shot. Most of the countries in the 54-nation-strong African Union have outlawed homosexuality.

Al-Qaeda's East African affiliate, al-Shabab, has fought to impose sharia law around the Horn of Africa, which includes the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Though the group has lost ground since controlling Somalia's capital Mogadishu in 2011, it continues to carry out deadly attacks throughout the region.

smm/mg (Reuters, AP)