Somali who claims to be centenarian marries teen

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - A Somali man who claims to be a centenarian has married a 17-year old girl. Ahmed Mohamed Dhore celebrated his marriage to Safiya Abdulle late Tuesday in central Somalia before hundreds of guests. Somali adolescent girls are often married off to older men. But it is rare for a man as old as Dhore to marry a girl of Abdulle's age.

Dhore says he wanted to marry Abdulle for a long time but waited for her to grow up. He says his children and two other wives agreed to the marriage, as did Abdulle's parents.

Dhore claims to be more than 100, but there is no way to verify the claim. This marriage was his 6th; three of Dhore's wives have died.

Polygamy is widely practiced in predominantly Muslim Somalia.