Kenya: More Christians beheaded

As reported by World Watch Monitor on 8 September 2017, al-Shabaab militants beheaded three Christians in Lamu country. Lamu police commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo told Reuters reporting on 6 September 2017: "The attacks took place in Silini-Mashambani early on Wednesday [September 6] where three were killed, while in a separate incident in Bobo village one person was killed. About 30 heavily-armed assailants went from house-to-house calling out victims by name before pulling some out and slitting their throats. They were dressed in military gear and had AK-47 rifles. They beheaded four men before fleeing into the forest. All the victims are men. Police have already arrived at the scene and taken the bodies to the mortuary." Reuters also said al-Shabaab spokesperson confirmed the attack saying its militants deliberately targeted non-Muslims. Yonas Dembele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "Al-Shabaab militants have conducted several serious atrocities against Christians in Kenya in the past years. There seems to be a surge in recent months - especially before the elections and now directly after. Warning was given about the security vacuum which was likely to be exploited by al-Shabaab as Kenyan security forces focused mainly on monitoring the elections. Unfortunately, that seems to have been the case." Yonas Dembele adds: "When al-Shabaab beheaded nine non-Muslims in July 2017 (as reported by WWR), analysts pointed out that this was a new development since in the past al-Shabaab had never beheaded its victims. Since then, the radical militant group has beheaded non-Muslims more than once. This is evidently becoming a new tactic adopted by al-Shabaab to intimidate Christians in the region."