A couple in Mali who had sex outside marriage has been stoned to death by Islamists in the northern part of the country.

The man and woman were buried up to their necks, then pelted with stones until they died in the town of Aguelhok.

Aguelhok in the region of Kidal is one of the towns to be captured by Tuareg separatist rebels following a coup in Mali''s capital.

According to some government officials, the Islamists stoned the couple to death in front of about 200 people, reports said.

“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,” the report quoted a local government official, as saying.

“The woman fainted after the first few blows,” he said, adding that the man had shouted out once and then fell silent.u00a0