
This is the moment a terrorist convicted of murdering five journalists was tied to a wooden post before being executed by a Somali firing squad.

Hassan Hanafi, a former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, was tied up at a police academy square in the capital Mogadishu today before being shot.

He was sentenced to death by military judges in March having been extradited from Kenya a year ago following his arrest in 2014.

Pictures captured the moment a terrorist convicted of murdering five journalists was tied to a wooden post before being executed by a Somali firing squad

Hanafi had a sheet pulled over his head and was tied to a simple wooden post before Somali police carried out the execution

The body of Hassan Hanafi Haji, is carried away after he was executed by firing squad, at a police academy in the capital Mogadishu

Hanafi, whose head was covered with a white sheet before he was killed, was widely known for arranging news conferences in the years when the militants controlled the city.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.

Somalia was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, and has been struggling to rebuild.

Hanafi, 30, had said he joined al Shabaab in 2008 when he was working as a journalist for a local Somali broadcaster. He was arrested in neighbouring Kenya last year and then returned to Somalia for trial.

Hassan Hanafi, a former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, was tied up at a police academy square in the capital Mogadishu today before being shot

The 30-year-old terrorist was widely known for arranging news conferences in the years when the militants controlled the city

Somalia soldiers and policemen look on as Hassan Hanafi, a former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, stands tied to a pole before his execution today

After his sentencing last month, Hanafi had said: 'I am indifferent if you kill me. You will see if killings will stop even after my death'

Al Shabaab, whose name means 'The Youth,' seeks to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently unleashes attacks targeting security and government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital

He had been promoted to commander in 2009. The following year, he was seriously injured in fighting.

'Al Shabaab killed many journalists but personally I killed only one,' Hanafi said after the sentence was announced. 'But I am indifferent if you kill me. You will see if killings will stop even after my death.'

Al Shabaab, whose name means 'The Youth,' seeks to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently unleashes attacks targeting security and government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.

The group was also behind deadly attacks in Kenya and Uganda, which both contribute troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

The execution comes days after two other al-Shabaab members were executed for the murder of a journalist killed by a car bomb last year in Somalia.

Abdirisak Mohamed Barow and Hassan Nur Ali, who admitted being al-Shabaab members during their trial, were also tied to posts and shot dead in Mogadishu.