So much for the Geneva Conventions. Al Shabaab in Somalia plays by its own sick rules where amputation of limbs is a frequently used tactic:

In the middle of the stony parade ground were about 20 militiamen in green fatigues. Their faces were masked. They were wearing surgical gloves. On the ground was a single plastic mattress.

 

Abdulle says he was made to lie down. His left hand was tied to his right ankle with a thick rope, leaving the other limbs free for what was to come. Rubber surgical tubing bit into his right biceps – a tourniquet. One rebel grabbed his hand, another his forearm. They pulled in opposite directions as a piece of plastic was laid over his wrist.

 

"Please make it quick," he pleaded.

 

A heavily built man drew a large wooden-handled knife normally used to slaughter camels. The knife descended.

 

Though their horror was far from over, Abdulle and the three other young men "cross amputated" – a process of cutting off a hand and foot from opposite sides of the body – by the Shabaab on 26 June 2009, eventually escaped from their Islamist captors, and managed to cross to the government-controlled side of the city.

It's long past time to stop this barbarism in Somalia.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist.