Kenya: Attacks Shouldn't Pit Christians vs. Muslims

opinion

If all Al Shabaab or their sympathisers are responsible for the July 1 attack on two churches in Garissa where 17 worshippers died and over 60 were injured, then this would go down as the militant group's most audacious and deadliest retaliatory attack on Kenyan soil. As security officers try to piece together what happened and who was behind this heinous attack, I want to join other Kenyans in sending my most prayerful condolences to the families of those who perished or were injured.

But as we condemn this senseless attack on innocent people who had presented themselves before the mercy of God in prayer, there is a growing feeling, and justifiably so, that some people might be intending to cleanse Garissa of people from other parts of the country. All similar attacks in Garissa since Kenya sent her troops into Somalia bear the signature of militants killing in the name of Islam. But as a Muslim myself, I ask whether Islam permits shedding of innocent blood in the name of defending the faith?

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