( CNN ) -- A Somali militant group publicly executed two teenage girls Wednesday after accusing them of being spies for the Somali government , according to the group , eyewitnesses and a relative of one of the girls . `` Those two girls were evil and they were spies for the enemy ( the Somali government ) , but the mujahedeen caught them and after investigation , they admitted their crime , so they have been executed , '' said Sheikh Yusuf Ali Ugas , commander of Al-Shabaab in Beledweyne , a town in central Somalia . The teens were blindfolded with their hands behind their backs against a tree , and shot , according to a local journalist . A resident of Beledweyne told CNN that Al-Shabaab called on the town 's residents to come out and watch the execution . `` Hundreds of people came out to watch the execution , '' he said . `` It was very bad ... the girls looked shocked and were crying but [ no one ] could help . '' A relative of one of the teens denied they were spies . `` My cousin , Ayan Mohamed Jama , was just 16 years old and she was absolutely innocent , '' said the relative , who did not want their name used out of fear of retribution from Al-Shabaab . `` And Al-Shabaab caught her and the other girl between El-gal and Beledweyne and simply accused them of what they were not . '' The other girl , said the relative , was 15 . Al-Shabaab refused their families ' request to see the teens while they were in detention , `` and they executed them at a public gathering , so this is inhumane and cruelty . '' The El-gal area has been the scene of heavy fighting recently between Somali government forces and Al-Shabaab . `` Ayan did n't have any contact with the government and even in her life , she never had a mobile [ phone ] so we ca n't understand how she could be accused of being a spy , '' the relative said . Last year , Al-Shabaab stoned a teenage girl to death in Kismayo , a town in southern Somalia . Al-Shabaab is waging a war against Somalia 's government in an effort to impose a stricter form of Islamic law , or sharia . Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991 , and fighting between the rebels and government troops has escalated the humanitarian crisis in the famine-ravaged country .
`` Those two girls were evil , '' says an Al-Shabaab commander . One man says the group called on residents to witness the execution . A relative of one girl denies the two were spies .