Muslim extremists kill Christian convert in Kenya

Muslim extremists on March 8 ambushed and killed an evangelist from Kenya and severely injured three others from Uganda near a town on Kenya’s border with Uganda, sources said.

The four Christian workers were returning to Bugiri, Uganda after a four-day outreach in Kenya when they were attacked near Busia, Kenya. At least 10 Muslims blocked their return by placing stones in front of their motorcycles at about 6:30 p.m., said a survivor, evangelist Rooney Masaba of Uganda.

“The attackers began asking us many questions and said not to involve Muslims in open-air outreach,” Masaba told Morning Star News.

The evangelists explained to them that their campaigns were not meant to be dialogues about Islam and Christianity targeting Muslims but merely imparting the Good News of Christ, Masaba said. During the campaign the workers had spent mornings in home visits and afternoons in open-air evangelism, he said.

“The Muslims further questioned us that they were not happy about the conversion of their fellow Muslims, especially their relatives during their door-to door mission outreach,” Masaba said. “This led the discussion getting more tense, and there and then one of the Muslims got hold of Ismail Wafula and pierced him with a sharp knife on the neck, chest and in the stomach, and he sustained terrible wounds on the head. He then fell down bleeding.”

Others tore their Bibles to pieces and began assaulting members of the team, he said.

“We started screaming, wailing and calling for help,” Masaba said. “Thank God there came an approaching vehicle that arrived as well as some people living close by.”

The attackers fled and the arriving helpers took them to a nearby hospital, where Wafula was pronounced dead, Masaba said. Wafula, a convert from Islam, was 30.

At this writing Martin Senkubuge, 32, was still receiving hospital treatment for wounds to his head, a broken left leg below the knee and an injured eye, Masaba said. Masaba, 28, and 26-year-old Ruben Were sustained minor injuries.

During their outreach, several Muslims put their faith in Christ, including two prominent men who had made a recent pilgrimage to Mecca and a wealthy woman who sponsored Islamic activities in the Busia area, Masaba said.

Previously the team had received threatening messages from Muslim leaders warning them to stop Christian outreach, he said.

Church leaders have notified police, and officers are investigating, he said.

Wafula, of Busia, Kenya, was formerly a Muslim who had put his faith in Christ in January 2021 as a result of the outreach by the three evangelists from Bugiri, Uganda. He joined the evangelistic team from Uganda in December, and in the March 8 attack, the assailants accused him of being a traitor and an enemy of Islam, Masaba said.