Seven suspected militant Islamists has been sentenced to death by a military court in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland, for killing several top regional officials, including the director of Puntland’s presidential palace, Aden Huruse.

According to Ceoafrica, some of the men, accused of being members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab group, shouted "we are innocent" before the sentence was handed down by the court in Bosaso city.

However, their lawyer said he would appeal against the ruling because there was no "credible evidence", against them.