Mogadishu  - Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab has stoned a 29-year-old married woman to death for adultery, the second such execution this month, officials said.

Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Abdirahman, an al-Shabaab judge, also ordered the woman's sexual partner, and unmarried man, to receive one hundred lashes.

Hundreds of spectators watched the stoning late Tuesday in the village of Eelbon, southern Somalia.

Earlier this month a 33-year-old man was stoned to death for conducting an affair in the port town of Marka.

Al-Shabaab and its ally Hizbul Islam are battling the weak central government and control much of south and central Somalia.

They have been implementing strict sharia, or Islamic law, in the areas they control, ordering floggings and executions. They have also banned musical ringtones and dancing at weddings.

An estimated 19,000 civilians have died since early 2007 in Somalia's bloody insurgency, which was prompted by neighbouring Ethiopia's invasion to kick out the Islamist regime.

The United States says al-Shabaab has close links with al-Qaeda and the lawless nation is fast becoming a breeding ground for terrorists.  (dpa)