Somali Christian Killed, His Four Children Kidnapped
Friday, September 10, 2010 (7:01 am)
by Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News International Correspondent
NAIROBI, Kenya (Worthy News)– Yet another leader of an underground Christian movement in Somalia was murdered by Islamic insurgents. Afterwards, his four children were taken from their mother in a continuing campaign against Christians, Worthy News has learned.
Al Shabaab militants broke into the house of Osman Abdullah Fataho in Afgoi on July 21 and shot him dead in front of his wife and four children. The assailants then abducted the survivors, later releasing the wife on the condition that she allow her children to become soldiers.
"We know they have taken the children to brain-wash them, to change their way of life from Christian to Muslim and to teach them the Quran," an anonymous source told Compass Direct News.
Abducted were: 5-year-old Ali Daud Fataho; 7-year-old Fatuma Safia Fataho; 10-year-old Sharif Ahmed Fataho and 15 year-old Nur Said Fataho.
Fataho's murder has spread fear among the faithful in the lawless lands of central Somalia that are controlled by Muslim insurgents intent on punishing any person professing Christianity; leaders of the Christian underground movement have since left their homes for undisclosed locations.
Al Shabaab, which has links with al Qaeda, recently banned radio stations from playing music and outlawed any secular bell ringing since it sounded too much like that of church bells.
In 2009, Islamic militants in Somalia killed 15 Christians, including women and children.
The transitional government in Mogadishu is led by President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed who has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for anyone converting from Islam.
Related News Stories:
- Somalia Christian Men Killed, Children Kidnapped
- Attacks on Somali Christian Refugees in Kenya
- Benin Christian Missionaries' Children Kidnapped And Possibly "Sacrificed"
- Kidnapped Children Return To Missionaries in Benin, New Church Established
- Kidnapped Children US Missionary Couple Freed in Haiti
- Somali House Church Attacked for the Second Time
- Islamic Militants Kill Somali Church Leader
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