Release International

A pastor's wife has been forced to flee Somalia after Islamist extremists shot dead her husband and then threatened to kill her too.

Amina Ibrahim Hassan left Somalia with her two-year-old son Abdi after Al Shabaab extremists, who have links with al-Qaeda, murdered her husband Mohammed last month.

Soon after her husband's murder, Amina received a phone call from Al Shabaab. 'We also know your home and that you are a follower of the Christians, and we are going to kill you the way we killed your husband,' they said. Both Amina and Mohammed were raised as Muslims but later became Christians.

Mohammed, 41, had arranged a new year celebration for his church in Medina, nine miles outside Mogadishu, and was attacked as he made his way there from his home in Hodan. It was not until the following day that Amina learned that he had been killed. 'We waited for him that day but he did not turn up,' Amina told Compass Direct news agency.

Compass Direct reports that Al Shabaab had apparently been monitoring Amina and her husband for some time – looking for proof that they had left Islam. Al Shabaab extremists killed at least 15 Christians in Somalia last year, targeting them specifically for their faith in their bid to 'cleanse' the country of non-Muslims.

(Source: Compass Direct)

• Pray for Amina and her son Abdi. Ask God to comfort them and provide for them as they rebuild their lives in a different country.
• Ask God to protect and multiply Somalia's underground church.

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