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Muslims help non-Muslims when extremists attack

Posted at 7:05 AM, Dec 22, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-22 07:07:40-05

Witnesses say Muslims helped dress non-Muslim passengers in Islamic attire to prevent extremists from identifying them for slaughter on a bus in northern Kenya.

A government official in the region says two people died in Monday's attack in northern Mandera County when gunmen believed to be Somalia's al-Shabab rebels shot at a bus and truck.

Witnesses say the bus was traveling from the capital city, Nairobi with 60 passengers when it was stopped by a group of Islamic militants. They say some of the Muslim passengers gave non-Muslims head scarves to try to conceal their identities when the bus stopped.

Police say before the rebels began singling out and killing the non-Muslims, a Muslim passenger fooled the attackers by saying that a truck full of police officers that was escorting the bus was not far behind. The extremists ordered everyone else on the bus and told them to drive off.

Police say one of the people who was killed decided to run and was shot in the back.