[kellyhound]

Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab militia has executed a Ugandan soldier captured more than a year ago, according to a video released online by the militants and confirmed by their spokesman.

Henry Obbo, Uganda's deputy military spokesman, told they were not aware of the video. The Ugandan military has previously confirmed that the captive, who has appeared in another video, was their soldier.

Ugandan soldiers form a large part of the 22,000-strong African Union (AU) peacekeeping force that defends Somalia's weak Western-backed government against the Islamist insurgents.

The AU force has been battling al Shabaab for nearly a decade and has pushed the militants out of the country's capital Mogadishu and many other former strongholds in the Horn of Africa nation.

But al Shabaab is still able to carry out deadly bombings and mount devastating assaults on AU and Somali national army bases. Al Shabaab holds an unknown number of Kenyan and Ugandan soldiers as hostages.

The soldier, wearing a military uniform with a Ugandan insignia, says al Shabaab captured him in September 2015 during an attack on a base at Janaale, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Mogadishu.

He said his message was directed at other Ugandan soldiers planning to embark on the "same journey that brought me here to Somalia."

Countries in the African Union force, such as Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Kenya, typically do not release the numbers of those killed, injured or captured in Somalia.

[Davis916]

I do not understand why a man who knows he is going to die cooperates with his executioner and speaks their ridiculous statements. I would just take the bullet.

[fapfapfap]

Originally Posted by Davis916 ↗

I do not understand why a man who knows he is going to die cooperates with his executioner and speaks their ridiculous statements. I would just take the bullet.

Why do you assume he knows he's going to die?

[vanb]

Maybe the choice was reading the statement and getting a bullet or not reading it and getting tortured to death.

[Decoy]

Originally Posted by Davis916 ↗

I do not understand why a man who knows he is going to die cooperates with his executioner and speaks their ridiculous statements. I would just take the bullet.

A lot of captors utilize fake executions as a way to keep them calm when the time comes for the real deal. It's possible this guy made the statements a dozen times before without being killed, thus he probably thought he'd be ok this time as well. ISIS is known to do that kind of thing to their victim's a lot.

[LedZep]

Originally Posted by vanb ↗

Maybe the choice was reading the statement and getting a bullet or not reading it and getting tortured to death.

EXACTLY

[horsecs]

That first shot must've hurt but he didn't suffer very long according to his eyes.

[EMason88]

At least his head is still attached!

[11B2P]

What a time to be living in. Fuckers are decapitating and gunning fools to the face, chopping people up, and recording in high definition (mostly). Literally, people are being slaughtered all over the world and we sit back, waiting for videos to upload of the brutality that has become man. Good times.

I'll sit back and burn as the world burns.

[Drastic85]

Yes, people talk about Hitler being the worst thing to ever happen and being glad he is gone. Doesn't look like things have improved to me.