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Kenya Christians Call for Greater Protection From al-Shabaab Terrorists

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Christians in Kenya’s Lamu West Sub County are calling for greater government protection after suspected al-Shabaab jihadist terrorists attacked Marafa and Poromoko villages, beheading an elderly man and destroying 10 homes on Saturday, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Christianity is the majority religion in Kenya (82%), but believers in Lamu County have increasingly suffered violent attacks and displacement from their villages by al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Shabaab jihadists who have infiltrated Lamu populations from their base in neighboring Somalia.

During Saturday’s attack, armed terrorists raided Marafa at around 9pm and decapitated 72 year-old John Thuo, Nation Africa reports. The killers then moved on to Poromoko village where they set fire to six houses and slaughtered chickens and stole property.

In a statement to ICC, Francis Mwai, a relative of the deceased said: “The security in this area is highly alarming…When the Minister for Internal Security comes to check the situation of insecurity, instead of him going to the affected area, he goes to the security camp and the adjacent areas where there are no reported security issues. He should visit the actual scenes and get to see and feel what we feel.”

A local church leader who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons added: “Christians have suffered for years under terrorism coming from the Somali-based al-Shabaab group that has made Lamu their operation base. Together with their collaborators that live amongst us, we have experienced all manner of discrimination, and we live in fear, at home, in churches and while traveling. The government has not done enough to ensure that all residents are safe and can exercise their right of worship.”