Somalia's Al-Shabab Kills 28 In Kenya

[Webster]

...ahhh, another example of the 'Religion of Peace' at work, right?

(NAIROBI, Kenya) — One gunman shot from the right, one from the left, each killing the non-Muslims lying in a line on the ground, growing closer and closer to Douglas Ochwodho, who was in the middle.

Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, Al-Shabab, attacked a bus in northern Kenya at dawn Saturday, singling out and killing 28 passengers who could not recite an Islamic creed and were assumed to be non-Muslims, Kenyan police said.

Those who could not say the Shahada, a tenet of the Muslim faith, were shot at close range, Ochwodho told The Associated Press.

Nineteen men and nine women were killed in the bus attack, said Kenyan police chief David Kimaiyo.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the killings through its radio station in Somalia saying it was in retaliation for raids by Kenyan security forces carried out earlier this week on four mosques at the Kenyan coast.

Kenya’s military said it responded to the killings with airstrikes later Saturday that destroyed the attackers’ camp in Somalia and killed 45 rebels.

The bus traveling to the capital Nairobi with 60 passengers was hijacked about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the town of Mandera near Kenya’s border with Somalia, said two police officers who insisted on anonymity because they were ordered not to speak to the press.

The attackers first tried to wave the bus down but it didn’t stop so the gunmen sprayed it with bullets, said the police. When that didn’t work they shot a rocket propelled grenade at it, the officers said.

The gunmen took control of the vehicle and forced it off the road where they ordered all the passengers out of the vehicle and separated those who appeared to be non-Muslims— mostly non-Somalis— from the rest.

The survivor, Douglas Ochwodho, a non-Muslim head teacher of a private primary school in Mandera, said was travelling home for the Christmas vacation since school had closed.

Ochwodho told AP that the passengers who did not look Somali were separated from the others. The non-Somali passengers were then asked to recite the Shahada, an Islamic creed declaring oneness with God. Those who couldn’t recite the creed were ordered to lie down. Ochwodho was among those who had to lie on the ground.

Two gunmen started shooting those on the ground; one gunman started from the left and other from the right, Ochwodho said. When they reached him they were confused on whether either had shot him, he said.

Ochwodho lay still until the gunmen left, he said. He then ran back to the road and got a lift from a pick-up truck back to Mandera. He spoke from a hospital bed where he was being treated for shock.

Seventeen of the 28 dead were teachers, according to the police commander in Mandera County.

A shortage of personnel and lack of equipment led to a slow response by police when the information was received, said two police officers who insisted on anonymity because they were ordered not to speak to the press. They said the attackers have more sophisticated weaponry than the police who waited for military reinforcements before responding.

Kenya has been hit by a series of gun and bomb attacks blamed on al-Shabab, who are linked to al-Qaida, since it sent troops into Somalia in October 2011. Authorities say there have been at least 135 attacks by al-Shabab since then, including the assault on Nairobi’s upscale Westgate Mall in September 2013 in which 67 people were killed. Al-Shabab said it was responsible for other attacks on Kenya’s coast earlier this year which killed at least 90 people.

Al-Shabab is becoming “more entrenched and a graver threat to Kenya,” warned the International Crisis Group in a September report to mark the first anniversary of the Westgate attack. The report said that the Islamic extremists are taking advantage of longstanding grievances of Kenya’s Muslim community, such as official discrimination and marginalization.

Kenya has been struggling to contain growing extremism in the country. Earlier this week the authorities shut down four mosques at the Kenyan coast after police alleged they found explosives and a gun when they raided the places of worship.

Some Muslims believe the police planted the weapons to justify closing the mosques, Kheled Khalifa, a human rights official said Friday warning that methods being used to tackle extremism by government will increase support for radicals.

One person was killed during the raid on two of the mosques on Monday. Police said they shot dead a young man trying to hurl a grenade at them.

The government had previously said the four mosques were recruitment centers for al-Shabab.(Time)

 

[Nebulous]

Thanks for sharing. What are your thoughts?

 

[identityissues8]

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.

Astaghfiruallah! Bloody Al-Shabab, claiming to be rightly guided, claiming to be acting for Islam - though ignoring and acting in a way to the polar opposite extreme of what is good and halal.

 

[DrLeftover]

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.

Astaghfiruallah! Bloody Al-Shabab, claiming to be rightly guided, claiming to be acting for Islam - though ignoring and acting in a way to the polar opposite extreme of what is good and halal.

But it is them, and their kind, that are the world-wide public face of Al Islam now.

And in their home countries, those who peacefully practice the faith are intimidated and threatened to support them or face a similar fate for "not being Muslim enough".

So, what can 'we' do?

 

[Webster]

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.

Astaghfiruallah! Bloody Al-Shabab, claiming to be rightly guided, claiming to be acting for Islam - though ignoring and acting in a way to the polar opposite extreme of what is good and halal.

But it is them, and their kind, that are the world-wide public face of Al Islam now.

And in their home countries, those who peacefully practice the faith are intimidated and threatened to support them or face a similar fate for "not being Muslim enough".

So, what can 'we' do?

Doc's got a point there, my friend...

 

[+paradox]

i just love how people scream injustice when muslims kill non-muslims but yet praise the killing of muslims...

all acts of murdering the innocent is evil and unjust...


Why they hate us (II): How many Muslims has the U.S. killed in the past 30 years?

Some degree of anti-Americanism may reflect ideology, distorted history, or a foreign government's attempt to shift blame onto others (a practice that all governments indulge in), but a lot of it is the inevitable result of policies that the American people have supported in the past. When you kill tens of thousands of people in other countries -- and sometimes for no good reason -- you shouldn't be surprised when people in those countries are enraged by this behavior and interested in revenge. After all, how did we react after September 11?

 

[identityissues8]

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.

Astaghfiruallah! Bloody Al-Shabab, claiming to be rightly guided, claiming to be acting for Islam - though ignoring and acting in a way to the polar opposite extreme of what is good and halal.

But it is them, and their kind, that are the world-wide public face of Al Islam now.

And in their home countries, those who peacefully practice the faith are intimidated and threatened to support them or face a similar fate for "not being Muslim enough".

So, what can 'we' do?

Oh my God.
Exactly 50% of my family is Somali and I can tell you have no idea of the situation over there, nor what Al-Shabab are about/doing (and you Webster).
Al-Shabab want to basically force themselves into absolute power of Somali, and the general Somali populous (no matter what they do) need to either obey, or they will be killed. Point blank - and I've seen members of this forum support nearly as tyrannical regimes without such a threat on their heads, thats a concern.
This is not Islamic, this is not even pretending to be Islamic, this is an evil group wanting to take control of a country.
This is only the 'face of al-Islam in the West?' because of the gullibleness of the West and lazy and/or sensationalist journalism (not that the story isn't extreme...But the facts don't resonate quite as well until you add the word 'Muslim' or 'Islam')

What can YOU do about it?
I'd say first of see the situation for what it is, and call it a humanitarian crisis.

 

[identityissues8]

i just love how people scream injustice when muslims kill non-muslims but yet praise the killing of muslims...

all acts of murdering the innocent is evil and unjust...

Absolutely.

 

[DrLeftover]

Question.

If a given group claims to be acting in accordance with a given religion, for example we shall cite the infamous "Westboro Baptist Church" (see picture below) who says they are Christians and behaving as they think God wants them to, and the rest of the world says otherwise, and may even have good evidence to the contrary: Are they, in their own eyes, 'Christian', or not?

 

[+paradox]

@doc, they can think that they're true christians but with hate and being so judgmental towards others, then my answer is no, they are not true christians...