Muslim Who Shielded Christian Bus Passengers from al-Shabaab Terrorists Dies

A Kenyan man who was shot while protecting Christians from an attack by terrorists has died of his injuries in a Nairobi hospital. The bus was ambushed by al-Shabaab militants on December 21 while it traveled in Kenya along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia. The Muslim passengers received worldwide praise for their heroic defiance of the terrorists during the attack.

Via The Independent:

Salah Farah was among a group of Muslim bus passengers who refused to be separated by the al-Qaeda linked terrorists last month. Knowing that the Christians would be massacred as soon as they were identified in a horrific pattern repeated in many recent attacks, the group told the gunmen to kill everyone or leave. The Islamists let the bus go on its way to Mandera but not before killing two of those on board and injuring three others.

Mr Farah, a father-of-five, was taken to a local hospital with bullet wounds and then flown to Nairobi for specialist treatment on Christmas Day. Officials told The Star newspaper he died on Sunday of complications to the injuries. Cleopa Mailu, the cabinet secretary for Kenya’s ministry of health, said doctors had done everything in their power to save his life so he could live as a “teacher of being a brother’s keeper”.

“The locals showed a sense of patriotism and belonging to each other,” Mandera governor Ali Roba told Kenya’s private Daily Nation newspaper last month. “The militants decided to leave after the passengers’ show of unity,” he added.

Mr. Farah told the Daily Nation that after the terrorists stopped the bus and ordered Christians and Muslims to separate, “we asked them to kill all of us or leave us alone. As we argued, they shot me and the boy. One man who also came out of the bus and tried to escape to the bush was shot.”

He told the Voice of America earlier this month that he wanted “people to live peacefully together.” He added that “we are brothers. It’s only the religion that is the difference, so I ask my brother Muslims to take care of the Christians so that the Christians also take care of us…and let us help one another.”

Rest in peace, Mr. Farah.