by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A Christian woman in Eastern Kenya is believed to have saved many lives when she stood up to five Al-Shabaab Islamic terrorists who attacked her village on January 9, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The Somali-based al-Shabaab group has carried out murderous attacks in Kenya since 2011, when the Kenyan government sent troops into neighboring Somalia to fight the jihadists there.
Wanduta had been tending her goats close to her home in the village of Salama-Juhudi when five men armed with guns and explosives approached her claiming to be Kenyan police officers, ICC reports. The men forced Wanduta to kneel and asked where her husband was.
“They were looking for men,” Wanduta told ICC. “They asked me where my husband was, and I told them he died last year.”
“They had come armed to kill all men of Salama-Juhudi, and they announced a fierce war between Christians and Muslims,” Wanduta continued. “They said they will wage war with Christians and whoever loses the battle shall surrender to the other.”
Wanduta refused to cower before the men, however, and instead asked them: “Why are you targeting Christian men and sparing women and children, and what sin have they committed that they cannot be asked to repent and be forgiven? If you kill all men here, how will the women and their families survive?"
The terrorists then took Wanduta and locked her in a neighbor’s home, with another woman, ICC said. After 30 minutes, Wanduta escaped from a window and ran to call security officers. According to ICC, Wanduta’s actions saved many lives in the Christian community: the security officers responded in good time and drove the attackers away.
Nevertheless, the terrorists had time to find and kill two men identified as Titus Muoki and Mwaura Wamwihaki in their homes. Al-Shabaab terrorists have killed more than 15 people in Lamu, Eastern Kenya since the New Year, ICC said.