Somalia News

Islamists in southern Somalia have stoned a man to death for adultery but spared his pregnant girlfriend until she gives birth.

A defense official in Somalia says a roadside bomb in the country's semiautonomous northern region has killed two people, including an infantry division commander.

On Thursday Somalia's main Sufi movement, Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa, wrapped up an unprecedented conference in Nairobi to strategise its response to the rise and radicalisation of the Shebab group.

Somali courtship was different in Hassan Aden's day. When he was a teenager, you gave the girl's parents 11 camels and an AK-47 assault rifle as bride price and then waited respectfully.

MOGADISHU: Unidentified gunmen in northeastern Somalia unsuccessfully tried to hijack a local commercial plane with two German journalists on board, officials said on Tuesday.

Somalia's mobile phone business is booming despite the almost daily artillery fire that flies over expensive satellite dishes and the violence that has brought misery to the population of the Horn of Africa nation.

A British couple, captured last week by Somali pirates aboard their yacht near the Seychelles Islands, have been taken ashore and moved inland into Somali territory, making a rescue by foreign navies in the region more difficult.

Now the waiting, and the negotiation, begins. Ransom demands have dropped from a reported $7 million to around $150,000, apparently because the pirates have realized how little money Paul and Rachel Chandler actually have. Some pirates, not necessarily speaking on behalf of this particular pirate gang, have suggested that the Chandlers be exchanged for seven Somali pirates detained by foreign naval forces operating off the coast of Somalia.

MOGADISHU, Somalia a " A Somali airline official says two men have failed in an attempt to hijack an airplane.Diallo Airlines marketing manager Ahmed Yare says the men drew guns on Monday's flight.

At least 36 people have been killed and scores wounded in three days of fighting in towns across chaotic southern and central Somalia, a local human rights group said Sunday.

The U.S. Navy says an American-flagged cargo vessel has escaped a brush with armed pirates off the coast of East Africa.

Al-Shabab militia patrol a market in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Al-Shabab accuses Israel of "starting to destroy" the Al Aqsa mosque "We are committed to defend our Palestinian brothers," Al-Shabab commander says It is not clear whether Al-Shabab has the capacity to carry out its threats against Israel Somalia has been mired ...

A Norwegian warship inspecting fishing boats off the coast of Somalia for suspected pirate activity has been caught in heavy gunfire, a European Union naval commander says.

Mogadishu - Somali pirates said on Saturday that a captured British couple had been moved on shore from a container vessel and that there was a dispute between different groups over the two Britons.

An airplane that transported Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed back to the capital Mogadishu was targeted by insurgent mortars on Wednesday, as at least 10 people were killed in attacks, Radio Garowe reports.

MOGADISHU, Somalia a " Somali pirates who are demanding $7 million in ransom for a British sailing couple say boats from other countries are 'looting' Somalia's fish-rich waters.Ahmed Gadaf, who says he's a spokesman for the pirates, says Western fishing vessels 'harass' local fishermen and destroy their nets.

NAIROBI, 29 October 2009 - Flash floods caused by four days of torrential rains have displaced more than 15,000 people in the southwestern town of El-Waq near the Kenyan border and submerged most homes and businesses, say locals.

NAIROBI, Kenya a ' Three masked members of a militant Islamist group in Somalia last week shot and killed a Somali Christian who declined to wear a veil as prescribed by Muslim custom, according to a Christian source in Somalia.

In this undated photo made available by the family, Paul and Rachel Chandler, who went missing when sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania after sending a distress signal on Friday, Oct.

"Today God helped me realise my dream," Mr Dore said, after the wedding in the region of Galguduud.

Here is a full transcript of what Mr Chandler said from the container ship where he and wife Rachel Chandler are being held hostage: ITV interviewer Angus Walker said: I have a message from Stephen [Collett Mr Chandler's brother-in-law]. Stephen says everyone here is fine we are all thinking of you and just hope you are both well can't wait to ...