Flying completely in the face of unjustified anti-muslim sentiment currently being voiced around the world, comes news that a group of Kenyan Muslims saved the lives of Christians during an attack on a bus by Islamist terrorists.
The terrorists belonging to Somali based terror group al-Shabab group attacked the bus near the north-eastern village of El Wak, Mandera, on the Somali border. Two passengers on the bus were killed.
Eyewitnesses said the majority of passengers on the bus were Muslims who protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into Muslim and Christian groups. The terrorists were either planning to kill or kidnap the Christians.
“The locals showed a sense of patriotism and belonging to each other by insisting that the Al-Shabaab should kill them together or leave them alone,” says Mandera governor Ali Roba. “This forced the militants to leave in a hurry fearing retaliation by residents from nearby villages.”
An employee of the Makkah bus company, who had spoken to the driver involved in the attack, confirmed that the Muslim passengers had refused to be separated from their fellow Christian passengers.
The bus was traveling from the capital Nairobi to Mandera.
When al-Shabab killed 148 people in an attack on Kenya’s Garissa University College in April, the terrorists reportedly singled out Christians and shot them, while freeing Muslims.
Al-Shabab has been carrying out attacks in Kenya ever since they took up headquarters in Somalia in 2011.
Roba says that the terror threat in Kenya over the past few weeks has been rising.
Last Christmas, a bus was attacked near Mandera by al-Shabab militants, who killed 36 non-Muslims traveling to Nairobi for Christmas celebrations.
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