Twitter suspends account run by Al Qaeda-linked Somali militants

Twitter suspended an account run by Somali extremists linked to Al Qaeda on Friday, two days after the militants threatened to execute Kenyan hostages and posted a video of one pleading for the Kenyan government to help free them.

In a string of Twitter messages, Shabab then demanded that Kenya unconditionally release Muslim prisoners held on terrorism charges and meet other conditions. Kenya had three weeks to respond “if the prisoners are to remain alive,” one of the tweets stated.

As of Friday, anyone trying to view the @HSMPress account was greeted by a message saying, “The profile you are trying to view has been suspended.”