5th February, 2015
Hundreds of teachers in northern Kenya bordering Somalia refused to return to work Tuesday, 3rd February, fearing attacks by Islamic militants who have killed dozens of non-Muslims, many of them Christians.
Elsewhere in Kenya Christians continued to mourn the death of Kenyan Pastor George Karidhimba Muriki, who was shot dead during a church service in the port city of Mombasa, BosNewsLife monitored.
Pastor George Karidhimba Muriki was reportedly shot last month, 11th January, inside the entrance gate at the Maximum Revival Center in the city’s Majengo section.
Witnesses said police stopped the gunmen from getting inside the church itself and killing
more victims.
Questions remained on Tuesday over the suspects, though Islamist al-Shabab militants from neighboring Somalia were believed to have carried out the attack.
Al-Shabab has vowed revenge for the presence of Kenyan forces in Somalia helping troops against the militants.
In November al-Shabab attackers hijacked a bus near the town of Mandera, singled out non-Muslims and non-Somalis, and shot dead 28. Twenty-two of those killed were teachers, including many Christians.
Ten days later al-Shabab massacred 36 quarry workers who were also non-Muslims.
Teachers demonstrating this week outside parliament in Nairobi, the capital, demanded that the government transfer them to schools in safer regions.
Christian aid group Barnabas Fund, which works in the region, said in a statement that it had asked for prayers "for our brothers and sisters in the Muslim-dominated parts of Kenya" who "are constantly at risk of attack from al-Shabab."
