GAO, Mali, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Radical Islamists who control northern Mali said God ordered them to cut off the hands and feet of four young men suspected of robbery.
The commissioner of the al-Qaida offshoot that controls the town of Gao confirmed the punishment in a telephone interview with The New York Times.
"We cut their right hand and their left foot," said Aliou Mahamar Toure. "It is not us who ordered this. It is God."
Monday's amputations drew swift condemnation from local officials.
They were the latest in a series of stringent punishments carried out as part of the Islamist campaign to enforce Shariah law.
Northern Mali has been in the hands of Islamists since the country's regular soldiers were chased from the region in late March and early April.
Since then the army has stood by while the Islamists have extended their control, rejecting offers of military assistance from regional powers.
