By BosNewsLife Africa Service

Al-Shabab fighters have killed another Christian church leader, Christians say.
Al-Shabab fighters have killed another Christian church leader, Christians say.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (BosNewsLife)– Somalia’s feared Islamic militant group al-Shabab has warned Christians and other residents that it will crackdown on “non-Islamic culture” across the country, after its fighters reportedly killed another Christian leader and destroyed a tomb of an apparently moderate Muslim cleric.

“We aim to get rid of the barbaric and non-Islamic culture in the country,” said Shebab official Sheik Ali Husein in published remarks monitored by BosNewsLife Wednesday, March 24.

He spoke just days after al-Shabab fighters reportedly shot and killed Madobe Abdi, the leader of an underground church in Mahaday village. His home was burned and destroyed, Christians said.

The incident apparently happened March 15 near the strategic town of Johwar, which al-Shabab captured last year. Jowhar is 90 kilometers south of the Somali capital Mogadishu and al-Shabab and the pro-government Islamic Courts Union have fought battles there. Abdi had escaped an earlier al-Shabab attempt this month to kidnap him, Christians said.

The militants allegedly prohibited his body from being buried, saying it must “be left to dogs”as an example to other Christians, who form a tiny minority in the country.

CHRISTIANS KILLED

Several Christians have been killed in recent months and years in Somalia by al-Shabab fighters, including people leading churches or carrying Bibles and women refusing to wear a veil.

Al-Shabab, which is fighting the United Nations backed Transitional Federal Government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed, has been accused by Christians of tryng to rid the Horn of Africa nation of all non-Muslims.

On Tuesday, March 23, al-Shabab made clear however that it would also expand its operations to target moderate Muslims.

It exhumed and took away the remains of a senior Sufi cleric who died 30 years ago, denouncing amoderate version of Islam as “barbaric,” witnesses said.

ARMED MILITANTS

Reporters said dozens of heavily armed militants destroyed the tomb of Sheik Muhyidin Eli in the northof the capital Mogadishu. “We have carried out today a holy operation to destroy tombs used as worshiping symbol,” Husein was heard saying.

The United States State Department has linked al-Shabab militants to the al-Qaida network.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 when warlords overthrew longtime dictatorMohamed Siad Barre. The warlords then turned on each other, plunging Somalia into anarchy.

Somalia’s government only controls a few streets in the capital, with the support of African peacekeepers. It has planned an offensive against al-Shabab, but critics say the operation has been postponed asthe underpaid, badly trained government forces lack adequate equipment to tackle the militants.

Many Christians have fled the violence in Somalia, but there may be still at least some 1,000 Christian believers in the country, many of whom worship in underground churches, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

7 COMMENTS

  1. the islamic force (mujahideen) are doing evil acts world wide, but its their Holy war (jihad) its the best way to Heaven where 72 virgins are waiting for muslims. the satan (Allah) had made very nice plan for muslims, first kill innocent men, women and little kids, then you (muslims) get 72 pretty girls with wine and do sex forever….. friends do you think, is it a religion ????

  2. my request to you sir nelson is that you read the quran and quote islam properly. killing innnocent people, church leaders, is totally against islam proven from authentic islamic sources so please before you start chatting rubbish think, read, then provide evidence. thanks.

  3. Mr yousaf you must read the Quran One who claims to be a messenger of God is expected to live a saintly life. He must not be given to lust, he must not be a sexual pervert, and he must not be a rapist, a highway robber, a war criminal, a mass murderer or an assassin. One who claims to be a messenger of God must have a superior character. He must stand above the vices of the people of his time. Yet Muhammad’s life is that of a gangster godfather. He raided merchant caravans, looted innocent people, massacred entire male populations and enslaved the women and children. He raped the women captured in war after killing their husbands and told his followers that it is okay to have sex with their captives and their “right hand possessions” (Quran 33:50) He assassinated those who criticized him and executed them when he came to power and became de facto despot of Arabia. Muhammad was bereft of human compassion. He was an obsessed man with his dreams of grandiosit
    “I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.” – Sahih Muslim 19.4366.
    “No Compulsion in Religion” 2:256 (Mecca verse) Abrogated (Naskh) canceled? through the later (Medina) “Verse of the Sword” 9:5 “Kill the infidels wherever you find them.
    the Qur’an’s promise of Paradise for those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111
    “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” — Qur’an 9:29 Satanic teaachings

  4. mr nelson
    men are divided in to 4
    @ man who knows(that man ask)
    @man who knows but dont know that he knows(that man wake him)
    @man who dosnt know and knows he dost know (that man teach him)
    @ man who dosnt know and dosnt know that he dosnt know(that is a stupid man)
    select yours

  5. Mr mohamed, member of the Al shabab
    For your poor info…. mankind are divided into 2 parts

    1- those who worship To God ( Our Saviour Jesus Lord )
    2- those who worship to Satan
    select yours……. Jesus save you my friend Amen !

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