Muslims Protect Christians During Al Shabab Bus Attack in Kenya
The Al Shabab militant group attacked a bus in Mandera, Kenya on Monday and targeted the Christian passengers, but the Muslims in the vehicle protected their co-passengers and helped save many of them.
On Monday, 10 Al Shabab militants invaded the said bus and ordered the Muslims and Christians to divide themselves according to religion. Even though the attackers threatened to shoot them, the Muslim passengers protected the Christians in the bus, according to The Blaze.
"We even gave some non-Muslims our religious attire to wear in the bus so that they would not be identified easily," Muslim passenger Abdi Mohamud told Reuters in an interview. "The militants threatened to shoot us, but we still refused and protected our brothers and sisters."
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In the end, the militants gave up, but warned them that they would come back, said Abdi. This was quite unexpected because the Al Shabab group has been known to target both Christians and non-Christians.
Two people died and three were injured in the bus attack, said Mandera County Gov. Ali Roba. He labeled the attack as an act of terrorism, The Washington Post reports.
During a local media briefing, Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery commended the Muslim passengers for showing unity with their countrymen despite their varying religions, the report adds.
This is not the first time that such an incident occurred. In November 2014, Al Shabab members attacked teachers on board a bus in the same region. They singled out 28 non-Muslim passengers and unceremoniously shot them dead, the report relays.
In December 2014, the BBC reported a similar incident at a quarry near the border with Somalia. In Kenya, both Muslims and non-Muslims perished in Al Shabab attacks, and a siege at the Garissa University in April left 147 people dead.
Al Shabab is fighting for Kenya's union with Somalia and has promised to continue their attacks, unless Nairobi orders the African Union troops to stop targeting them and withdraw from the area.
