Islamists in northern Mali have stoned an unmarried couple to death, the first reported sharia killing since they occupied the area, ratcheting up pressure on an embattled interim government. The execution came as interim President Dioncounda Traore finalised a unity government which foreign partners have demanded be formed by Tuesday to take decisive action against the jihadists who have cleaved the nation in two.

As politicians grappled for solutions in Bamako and west African capitals, the al Qaeda linked Islamists grew bolder, dragging a rural couple to the centre of the town of Aguelhok Sunday for a public stoning. "I was there. The Islamists took the unmarried couple to the centre of Aguelhok. The couple was placed in two holes and the Islamists stoned them to death," said a local government official on condition of anonymity. "The woman fainted after ...[url]public-announcement..com[/url]