Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for killing Christians

Al-Shabaab says it killed six Christians in Mandera town in northeastern Kenya, in an attack deliberately "aimed at forcing - [Christians] out of the region", according to a report by BBC News on 6 October 2016. The grenade and gun attack was launched on a residential block at night and was "the latest in a spate of deadly attacks targeting Christians in the mainly Muslim region". Yonas Dembele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, sees this attack as an indication that al-Shabaab is still a threat to the region even though it is losing ground in Somalia. He confirms: "For Christians, this attack is yet another reminder that the region is still not safe for them despite many operations carried out by the Kenyan security forces to neutralize the threat posed by al-Shabaab."