Kenyan Acting Interior Secretary Fred Matiang’i implemented a three-month curfew on the coastal counties of Lamu, Tana River, and Garissa, following attacks perpetrated by radical Islamic jihadists against the local Christian population.
The al-Qaeda linked terror group, Al Shabaab, is causing widespread fear in Kenya after they massacred 13 innocent civilians, many of them practicing Christians.
Morning Star News reports that on Saturday, July 8, and into the next day, Muslims living in the Pandanguo settlement of Lamu County helped Al Shabaab militants identify Christians who lived in the nearby villages.
According to a survivor who is recovering at the Mpeketoni hospital, the Islamic terrorists killed nine Christians and non-Muslim villagers Saturday morning in Jima by shooting them, hacking them with machetes, and beheading them.
Al Shabaab then targeted several innocent civilians in the village of Kipini. The attack happened near the Boni forest, a suspected hiding ground for Islamic terrorists trying to overthrow the government in neighboring Somalia.
A witness told Morning Star News, “The Christians were asked to recite the Islamic dogmas, which they could not, hence they were killed.”
The witness explained that there have been calls from the locals for Somalian and Kenyan authorities to open investigations into the massacre. “We urged the government to investigate and bring to book these local Muslims who are harboring these Al Shabaab terrorists, because the Christians who were decapitated were farmers.”
He went on to say that many farmers who fled the carnage saw their crops destroyed in the ensuing terror attack.
The source said, “The government has now beefed up security in the area, and we hope the victims who fled will soon return back, but they need some trauma counseling first,” explaining that many survivors are experiencing shock after the attack.
One resident said the Christians fleeing the villages are taking refuge wherever they can. The local explained, “We are now residing at the police station in Hindi for fear of possible attacks.”
Christians fear that the death toll might be higher as several villagers are still missing after the attacks. Many are concerned about food storage following the destruction of farms by the terrorists.
This incident comes on the heels of a May attack when Al Shabaab led an assault on the Fafi Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, where several Christian and Muslim teachers were murdered by the insurgents.
Al Shabaab has been involved in several attacks on Christians, murdering at least 4,000 men and women of the faith in 2016 and many more this year.
Morning Star News is a non-profit media outlet dedicated to raising awareness of persecution against Christians.
