(ICC) has learned that members of Al-Shabaab, an Islamic Somali extremist group, confiscated farm lands owned by Somali Christians. The Islamists have confiscated eight farms since January 19. A Somali church leader confirmed to ICC that five of the farms were owned by Somali Christian converts from Islam and three were owned by Muslims who attended Bible study groups to learn about Christianity. Most of the landowners fled their homes and remain in hiding. The Islamic group has vowed to cleanse Somalia of any Christian influence. Since January 2009, Al-Shabaab has killed 23 Christians, most of whom were church leaders. Al-Shabaab has also desecrated three Christian cemeteries in Mogadishu and destroyed a Christian library in the Luuq district. The Somali church has demonstrated remarkable growth despite intense persecution from Muslim radicals. Full Story

Islamic extremists shot the leader of an underground church to death outside the capital city of Somalia this month and have threatened to kill his wife, his tearful widow told Compass. Having learned that he had left Islam to become a Christian, Somali militants from the Islamic extremist al Shabaab murderd 41-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Ali. Ali’s wife Hassan said she received threatening calls from members of al Shabaab on Jan. 3 saying, “We 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.” Hassan fled for Kenya early the next morning by bus with her only child, 2-year-old son Abdi Asis Mohammed Ahmed, arriving at Nairobi on Jan. 20.

Pray for Hassan and her 2-year-old son, and for the underground church in Somalia.