MOGADISHU: A Somali woman has been stoned to death in the Shebab-controlled part of the country for secretly marrying several husbands, officials and witnesses said Saturday.

Witnesses said the woman was buried up to her neck and pelted with rocks and stones by hooded men in front of a large crowd in the southern coastal district of Barawe.

“The woman married four husbands and confessed to the crime. I questioned her several times while she was in prison and she told me she was mentally fit. All the four husbands were questioned and they have confirmed that they had married her,” Islamic court judge Sheik Mohamud Abu Abdullah told the gathering.

The woman, 33-year-old Safiyo Ahmed Jumale, was executed on Friday in front of dozens of onlookers.

“The woman was brought with her eyes covered and she was buried up to her neck before she was stoned to death by hooded men,” said Ali Yare, a resident who witnessed the execution.

Somalia's Al Qaeda-affiliated Shebab control large swathes of territory in the south and centre of the war-torn country, where they impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law.