BULO MARER, Somalia — Islamic extremists suspected to be rebel militants have kidnapped a Christian mother of two young children in Somalia and threatened her husband because of their faith, her husband said.
Three masked men abducted Shamsa Enow Hussein, 28, on Aug. 5 in Bulo Marer, Lower Shebelle Region, at 7 p.m. outside her home after determining that she was a secret Christian.
“Please leave immediately because of what we believe,” she said in a text to her husband, Mohamed Isse Osman. “They have abused me sexually saying I am an infidel.”
Osman said he has received anonymous, threatening text messages from the kidnappers from a withheld number, including one reading, “Your wife has told us all about your Christian involvement and soon we shall come for you too.”
A leader of the underground church in the undisclosed town to which Osman and his daughters, ages 3 and 5, have fled said Osman has not heard from his wife since her Aug. 5 text message.
“Our two young daughters are crying for their mother,” Osman told the church leader.
Somalis consider themselves Muslim by birth, and apostasy, or leaving Islam, is punishable by death.
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