Somalia carries out amputation sentences

MOGADISHU, Somalia, June 25 (UPI) -- Hard-line Somali Islamists carried out double amputations on four men who admitted stealing phones and guns, authorities said.

Masked men with machetes cut off the right hand and left foot of each man, convicted by a Sharia court in Mogadishu earlier this week, the BBC said Thursday.

More than 300 people, mainly women and children, watched.

The four men, ages 18 to 25, reportedly admitted to the robberies but were said not to be represented by a lawyer and were not allowed to appeal their sentences.

Al-Shabab, which controls much of southern Somalia, has carried out amputations, floggings and an execution in the southern port of Kismayo, but such punishments are rare in the capital.