Four Christians working in Somalia to provide services to orphans have been executed by beheading by al-Qaida-linked interests who told their families that is the penalty for apostasy.
The report on the outrage comes from International Christian Concern which said the executions happened sometime after the kidnapping of the Christians on July 27, but it only discovered the tragedy recently.
The organization identified the Christian orphanage workers as Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma'ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi and Maaddey Diil. They had been kidnapped in the coastal Somalian town of Merca, about 50 miles from Mogadishu.
According to ICC, al-Shabaab, an Islamic extremist organization, claimed responsibility, and confirmed the Christians were killed when they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus.
The ICC report said it was on Aug. 4 when a junior al-Shabaab militant notified the families of the victims the four were beheaded for apostasy. ICC said the militant described the Christians as promoters of "fitna," a Muslim term for religious discord.
The militant continued that the families would not even be given the bodies, "as Somalia does not have cemeteries for infidels."
The ICC quoted one eyewitness, who said, "All the four apostates were given an opportunity to return to Islam to be released but they all declined the generous offer."
The ICC report confirmed the four Christians had been working for a local non-governmental organization that helps orphans in southern Somalia.
A Somali church leader who monitors the persecution against the Somali church described the latest beheadings as a desperate attempt to "purify" Somalia by eliminating all Christians from what the al-Qaida-linked terror group considers an Islamic Republic.
But the church leader, whose identity was withheld, said such murders will only serve to launch more house-churches.
ICC described al-Shabaab as "a radical Islamic organization fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia and enforce Wahhabi/Salafi Islam, an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam practiced by the Taliban and al-Qaida." Read more here.....
Source: WND
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