Somalia | Ain't Complicated

Under Siege

Another Christian executed in Somalia

Earlier this month, underground church leader Madobe Abdi escaped an attempted kidnapping in Somalia.

Compass Direct News reports Islamic militants caught up with him March 15 and murdered him. What made his death more alarming is that Abdi was an orphan raised as a Christian rather than a convert from Islam.

Islamic militants have hunted leaders of the underground church movement as a means of discouraging others from responding to the Gospel.

Is it working?

1,000 attacks on Christians in 500 days

A study shows that in 500 days, there were 1,000 attacks on Christians in India’s Karnataka state alone, reports Compass Direct News.

India has not exactly been known for its peaceful attitude toward Christians, especially after several months of attacks in Orissa state in 2008. At that time, attacks were predominately made by Hindu extremists, as they appear now to be in Karnataka. Karnataka, however, never seemed a likely target for Christian persecution.

“[Karnataka] is not in that area of India where you would expect there to be as many attacks,” says Dave Stravers of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India. “It’s in the south; the northern part of India is where more of the radical Hindus live. One of the reasons it’s not surprising, however, is that this is one of the places where the church is growing faster in India.”

[…]

“What’s happening in Karnataka is perhaps a little bit ominous because a Hindu political party has control of that state,” says Stravers. “Even though these attacks are not legal attacks, nevertheless when a Hindu party gets in power, it seems to encourage the unruly elements in the country to undertake this kind of violence.”

And I feel bad because our pet hen died this afternoon….

Perspective. How we all need good perspective.

An American captain being held by Somali pirates was freed unharmed Sunday in an operation carried out by U.S. Navy Seals, U.S. military officials said. Three of the pirates were killed and the fourth was captured.

[…]

U.S. military snipers opened fire on the pirates within seconds after an on-scene commander determined that Phillips’ life was in “imminent danger” because one of the pirates was aiming an AK-47 at the captain’s back.

I’m glad the captain is safe.

It is tragic, though, that three other humans had to die. And no matter what Islam might have told them, they had no harems of 72 virgins each awaiting them.

The devil surely is glad for their deaths.

And the Savior — whose resurrection we remember today — well, what do you suppose His response is?

(Oh, and I had this thought cross my mind earlier this afternoon: Were any of the American snipers Christians?)

Cannon Fodder from America?

American Somali children join jihad

Several Somali children have left the US to join the ‘jihad’ against foreign forces in Somalia, it has been reported.

According to the MidEast News Source, the children, mainly from Minneapolis and Minnesota left the country in secret, with one mother claiming that the first she knew of it was when her son called her from Mogadishu. She had earlier reported her son missing to police.

[…]

Observers believe that American children are now joining the jihad, and they have suggested that some were involved in a string of suicide attacks in Somaliland and Puntland.

It seems that their involvement coincided with the arrival of Ethiopian troops, who defeated the Islamic Courts Union. Following the recent peace deal, the Ethiopian troops have now departed.

Most of the children appear to have links with Abubakar Alsiddiq mosque in Minneapolis. But the imam there, Sheikh Abdirahman Ahmed, claimed the accusations were baseless and denied that he was recruiting fighters. There are also concerns in Europe and other continents that children are leaving for jihad in Somalia.