Source: www.persecution.org
Date: April 10, 2024
Kenya (International Christian Concern) – During the morning of Tuesday, April 9, suspected al-Shabab members killed a farmer in Bobo, Hindi, a Christian village in Kenya that the Islamic extremist group attacked in 2022.
Later that afternoon, the militants barricaded a road in the Milihoi area in Lamu County, a route between Mpeketoni and Hindi they travel often. They shot two travelers and set several vehicles on fire.
Lamu West Deputy County Commissioner Gabriel Kioni confirmed the attack and stated that only one person had died and that two people suffered minor injuries.
Security officers responded quickly to the attack and pursued the extremists but were unable to apprehend them. After additional security officers arrived, vehicles traveling through Lamu were stopped and inspected. Some travelers to Hindi and Mokowe chose to detour through Mpeketoni out of fear of further attacks.
“We spent the night awake and alert since we know that the terrorists like attacking during or at the end of the holy month of Ramadan,” an ICC staffer said.
One Christian survivor of the attack said the militants forced him to recite the Shahada, an Islamic statement of faith, to determine if he was Muslim. After he lied and claimed he did not know the Shahada well because he had recently converted to Islam, the militants released him.
Al-Shabab is known to have crossed into Kenya and made people recite the Shahada to determine if they are Muslim. Those who do not recite it are considered Christians and are often beaten or killed.
“We have mobilized our prayer cells to pray that Lamu doesn’t continue to experience this hatred by the Somalia-based terror group that has crippled church growth and the economy of the residents of Lamu,” the ICC staffer said. “We are requesting our brothers and sisters all over the world to join us in prayer against terrorism and persecution of believers in Lamu.”
ICC will continue to monitor the situation and release further information as it becomes available.
HOW TO PRAY: Pray for comfort for those who lost loved ones. Pray for provision for those whose property was destroyed. Pray for an end to religiously motivated violence in Kenya.