The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that Islamic extremists shot and killed a Muslim convert to Christianity on April 22 in Baidawa, a town 149 miles away from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. His name was David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali, and he was 29 years old.

On Tuesday, April 22, 2008, at 4:30pm local time, one of David's cousins led two other members of the Islamic extremist group Al-Shabab to David and asked him if he was a Muslim or an infidel. He answered, "Neither."

They asked, "Then what are you?"

He answered, "Waxaan ahay Masiixi," which means, "I am a follower of the Messiah."

At this, David's cousin was enraged and humiliated. In Somalia's strict Muslim society, David's conversion to Christianity brought enormous shame on his family. His cousin's first response was to pull out a gun and shoot David. The other two extremists did the same, and the three continued shooting David until their Muslim "honor" had been avenged.

David had been living in Ethiopia since 2000 when he traveled to Somalia this April to visit his family. He came to Christ in 1995, in Yemen, where he was living as a refugee. In 2000, David's good friend, Mohammed Omer Haji, was sentenced to death by the government of Yemen for his faith in Christ (Haji was able to take refuge in New Zealand). David had to flee Yemen and move to Ethiopia because Yemeni authorities were looking for him also.

David was a gifted and brilliant evangelist who led many to the Lord, actively sharing his faith through blogs! . He was also a linguist and a philosopher whom some Somalis called "The Great Thinker."

Recently, Islamic extremists have intensified their attacks against Christians in Somalia. In the past six months alone, four Christians, including David, have been martyred for their faith. The other three martyrs are: Da'ud Ali, Mohamed Yusuf and Hassan Mo'alim.

The attacks against Christians in Somalia are carried out by a group called Al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda linked militant group. Al-Shabab is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, ruled by Sharia law, and is on the United States list of terrorist organizations.

ICC spoke with a leading Somali Christian who urged the international community to condemn the genocide-in-the-making that the Church in Somalia is facing.

The Somali Christian expressed his fear that "less than three percent of the Somali population is Christian and we [the Christians] could be eliminated in this generation by the Muslim violence if the massacre is not stopped now."

ICC's regional manager for Africa, Darara Gubo, stated, "The deadly Jihad against Christians continues and Christians in Somalia need our help and support. Please don't forget our brothers and sisters in Somalia."

International Christian Concern