Hiiraan Online

HARGEISA (HOL) – The breakaway northern Somalia region of Somaliland on Sunday executed three people including a woman and her son by firing squad after being convicted of murdering a woman  officials said.

A court in Hargeisa found the boy and his mother guilty of murdering Ruqiya Saeed Ayanle by burying her alive inside their house. The police said they  have killed Ms. Ayanle due to an argument over a debt owed after business transactions.

Somaliland has also executed another man convicted of killing a military officer.

According to witnesses the three were tied to poles outside a notorious Mandera military prison before masked soldiers randomly shot them to death.

It’s the second time the northern Somalia enclave carried out executions since last week. Four soldiers were executed by firing squad including one who was convicted of killing his chief officer in a remote village in the region last week.

Somaliland has also executed six prisoners last year; an action which had drawn condemnations by the international community. The European Union warned that the summary executions in the region serve as a setback in the progress made in spreading the rule of law in Somaliland.

Somaliland, a peaceful enclave in northern Somalia which declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 has escaped Somalia's two decades civil war. Despite lacking an international recognition, Somaliland considers itself as an independent state, employing its own independent government, currency and army.