Nairobi/Mogadishu - A Somali judge who sentenced four men with links to Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab to jail terms has been shot dead in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, local media reports said Thursday.

Radio Garowe said armed and masked men shot Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware in Bosasso, the capital of Puntland, as he left a mosque on Wednesday night.

Aware - who was known for sentencing militants and pirates terrorizing international shipping off the coast of Somalia - was shot just days after jailing four al-Shabaab members.

Al-Shabaab is fighting the weak Western-backed Somali government in an insurgency that has claimed almost 20,000 lives since early 2007.

Security forces have arrested three suspects, Radio Garowe reported. (dpa)