Kenyan Muslims protected their Christian co-passengers from Islamic gunmen when they were traveling on a bus in Mandera county, according to media reports.
Their bus was ambushed by Somalia's al-Shabab rebels who shot at the bus windscreen, brought it to halt, and asked all the passengers to get out of the bus and make two groups of Muslims and non-Muslims.
Both Muslims and non-Muslims refused to form separate groups, risking being killed indiscriminately.
Some of the Muslim passengers also gave non-Muslims head scarves to hide their identities before the bus stopped. The terrorists left after the passengers responded with unity.
The bus had 60 passengers and was heading to Mandera city, but was stopped by the militants in Papa City in between.
Two people were killed in the incident, including a non-Muslim man who tried to run away in the ensuing ordeal when the terrorists asked people to form two groups.
A police officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that a Muslim man told the extremists that a truck-load of police officers were on the way on the same road, according to a report by the Christian Science Monitor. This led the militants to pack everyone on the bus and let them drive away.
Al-Shabab has been active in Kenya for the last several years since it sent troops to Somalia to fight the terrorists in 2011.
In November 2014, al-Shabab had carried out a similar attack, killing 28 passengers on a bus. They had also asked the passengers to make two lines of Muslims and Non-Muslims at that time.
In July this year, 14 quarry workers were shot dead by al-Shabab, while in December 36 people were gunned down by the extremists.
