International
Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that yesterday, January 12, 2020,
gunmen believed to be part of the Somali-based al-Shabaab terrorist
group flagged down a passenger bus at Tarbaj, Wajir State. During the
attack the gunmen separated men from women, interrogating them to
identify non-local travelers.
Reporting on the incident, the
conductor of the bus plying Mandera Nairobi route said, “We were
approaching a place called Darkut when six fully armed men stopped the
bus. They fired in the air and ordered all our passengers from Mandera
to alight. They separated men and women and started asking if there were
people who were not Somalis. They also wanted to know if we carried any
civil servants. Fortunately, they were not able to identify any.”
Al-Shabaab
has long posed a security threat in the Northeastern region along
Kenya's border with Somalia, regularly targeting Christians. In recent
years, the militants have killed hundreds of non-local passengers by
separating them from Muslims and shooting them dead. Yesterday, when
they failed to identify any Christians, they ransacked the bus and stole
foodstuffs and other items belonging to the travelers. They also robbed
the conductor.
“They demanded the money that the passengers had
paid for fare, and I handed it over, all of it, 40,000Ksh. That’s when
they left.” He said.
Speaking during a security meeting on
January 11, Captain Ali Roba, the Governor of Mandera, admitted that
insecurity has reached unprecedented levels over the last three months
because “al-Shabaab [has] taken control of half of the Northeastern
region and occupied strategic locations due to their undeterred movement
across the border and within the area.” He also stated that members of
the al-Shabaab are “collecting livestock by force from helpless
pastoralists in the name of Zakat.”
We are thankful that nonlocal
Christians and civil servants were not identified in this recent bus
attack in Northeastern Kenya. However, a solution must soon be
identified to stop the menace of al-Shabaab.
ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Nathan Johnson, states, “The
porous border between Kenya and Somalia continues to be a problem for
Kenyan Christians. Al-Shabaab uses porous areas to move into Kenyan
territory, target Christians, then retreat back to the safety of
Somalian soil. Their brutal and evil tactics of targeting and executing
passengers on buses merely for being Christians is one of the clearest
forms of persecution taking place anywhere in the world today.”
International Christian Concern is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on human rights, religious freedom and assisting the persecuted Christian Church around the world.
Media Contact
Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator
E-mail: press@persecution.org
Phone: (301)-859-3842
International Christian Concern
2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #941, Washington, D.C. 20006
www.persecution.org | E-mail: icc@persecution.org
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