Mogadishu — Somali-based militant group al-Shabab has executed seven men in Somalia's southwestern region of Bay.

The execution that was conducted publicly took place in the vicinity of Buula-Fulay in Somalia's Bay region late Saturday.

Six of the executed men were accused of spying for the Somali government and the U.S.

Three of them were also accused of providing intelligence that led to the killing of senior al-Shabab leaders, Yusuf Jiis and Abdulkadir Commandos, who were targeted in U.S. airstrikes in 2020.

An al-Shabab judge told local spectators that the six men have confessed, without providing evidence. Al-Shabab courts don't allow lawyers who can defend the accused.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's Somali state president Mustafe Omar said that the region's special forces operations against al-Shabab militants inflicted the group heavy casualties.

He said they believe that the troops killed 600 al-Shabab fighters during their operations against the militant group who a week ago infiltrated Ethiopia, sparking new confrontations near the Ethiopian border with Somalia.