Muslim Militants Reportedly Behead Christian Somali Teen
Al-Shabab militants have reportedly beheaded a 17-year-old Somali Christian near Mogadishu, in the latest attack in the group's reign of terror on the country's Christians.
Al-Shabab is revered as one of Africa's most ruthless militant Islamist groups. The continuously insurgent military force, which dominates much of southern Somalia, has endeavored to supplant Somalia's transitional government and its Ethiopian supporters since 2006.
Since 2007, the group has aligned itself closely with al-Qaida and immediately began to show the familiar signs of this association. It has adopted the strategy of employing suicide bombers, and has begun to recruit jihadists from around the world.
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As The New York Times reported, al-Shabab has for years conducted a war of terror on the Somali public, with the dismembering of individuals being commonplace and the killing of others through stoning. The group has also forbidden the viewing of television as well as the listening of music, effectively transforming Somalia into a seventh-century-style Islamic state.
Al-Shabab is also fearcely anti-Christian and has visited acts of cruelty against members of the Christian faith, including starvation, in its effort to eradicate the Somali Christian population.
According to Persecution.org, al-Shabab actively prevented Christians from receiving urgently needed food aid during this years' devastating drought and famine in Somalia, causing many to starve to death.
Recently, according to Compass Direct News, the militants, who have pledged to cleanse Somali of Christians, beheded Guled Jama Muktar on Sept. 5 in his home near Deynile, which is located about 12 miles from Mogadishu.
It was reported that the al-Qaida allied group, through close watch of the boy's family, knew that he belonged to the Christian faith.
According to information provided by neighbors, al-Shabab members appeared at the boy's home at 6:00 a.m., when his parents were already at work, and killed him.
Neighbors, who heard Muktar's screams before his killers drove away from the scene, informed his parents, who hurried home to find their son dead. They buried Muktar's body quickly, due to fears that they would be killed, and quickly departed the scene to live in a new location.
