Kenyan Muslims team up to protect Christians

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A group of Muslim leaders in Kenya has agreed to help their Christian countrymen defend their churches, after a rash of attacks that killed 15 Christians, according to the BBC.

“Muslims felt that because those Christians are a minority in their domain they must be protected at all cost,” said Adan Wachu, leader of both the Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims and the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya.

The attacks took place in town of Garissa, near the border between Kenya and Somalia. Though most of the residents are ethnic Somalis and Muslims, there are 30 Christian churches in town, which Wachu said would be protected as part of “a united front.”

“We decided as solidarity that the Muslim youth will provide a vigilante service to the churches not only in Garissa but in any other places that the Christians may deem fit,” he said.

The Washington Post is reporting that the attacks are being blamed on a Somalian militant group linked to Al-Qaida, and were carried out in order to incite fighting between Muslims and Christians.

Representatives for the group, known as al-Shabab, have not responded to allegations linking them to the Garissa attacks.

[image of downtown Garissa via Wikipedia Commons]