Al-Shabaad militia man

An al-Qaida-linked terror group has been identified as the organization that dragged off three children of a Christian father in Somalia and executed two of them by beheading, according to a horrifying new report from Compass Direct News.

The Islamic extremists identified as being with a group called al-Shabaab, which has been described by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization, attacked the family and killed the boys because their father refused to provide information about a church leader, the report said.

"I watched my three boys dragged away helplessly as my youngest boy was crying," said the mother, Batula Ali Arbow. "I knew they were going to be slaughtered."

A short time later, 7-year-old Abdulahi Musa Yusuf came running back to his mother, wailing and crying. Dead were his brothers 12-year-old Hussein Musa Yusuf and 11-year-old Abdi Rahaman Musa Yusuf, according to the report.

The killers continued searching Kenya's refugee camps to find the father, Musa Mohammed Yusuf, who was gone at the time, the report said. He was the leader of an underground church in Yonday village in Somalia before April, when the family fled to a Kenyan camp.

Word of the tragedy is just being reported because of the remote area (20 miles outside of Kismayo) where the attack happened several weeks ago.

According to the report, al-Shabaab militants arrived in Yonday village in February, went to Yusuf's house and interrogated him about his work with Salat Mberwa, a leader of 66 Somali Christians meeting in an undisclosed location. Yusuf told them he knew nothing.

The terrorist left, but promised to return, so Yusuf fled.

Not finding him on their return, the attackers killed the boys, the report said.

U.S. government agencies describe the al-Shabaab militants as terrorists who hold "mobile Shariah courts" as they travel, often dispensing Quran-prescribed punishments such as amputations on the spot.

Al-Shabaab reportedly controls large sections of southern Somalia, a land where no formal government has been in control for years.

Known formally as Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin, the group has been involved in a violent insurgency since 2006. It has released statements praising al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, and claims to have succeeded in multiple bombings and shootings in Mogadishu. Its victims have included peace activists, aid workers and journalists, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

Minnesota Public Radio has reported that the organization is suspected of recruiting young men from Minnesota, which has the largest population of Somalis in the United States, to launch the terror attacks in Somalia.

Shirwa Ahmad, who is described by the FBI as the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terror bombing attack in Somalia, reportedly began his training in Minnesota.

The boys' mother said she buried their bodies after the terrorists left.

Yusuf, who had fled to Kismayo, got word of the attack and spent several weeks seeking help to reach Kenya.

The remaining members of the family later gathered at the refugee camp, where they reportedly are living without shelter or sleeping mats.

Interviewed by Compass, Mberwa said the terrorists "are on our heads … even here in the refugee camp we are not safe."

The report said an example of the vicious nature of the al-Shabaab attackers came just a week ago, when "in a show of power in the capital city stronghold of Mogadishu … hard-line Islamic insurgents sentenced four young men each to amputation of a hand and a foot as punishment for robbery."

"After mosques announced when the amputations would take place, the extremists carried them out by machete in front of about 300 people on Thursday (June 25) at a military camp," the report said.

Many Somalis, while Muslims, are moderate and the strict and bloody enforcement of such penalties has shocked, according to Compass

Another previous attack had indicated how dedicated the Islamic terrorists were to finding Christian leaders. Late last year, they interrogated Mberwa's son, Abdi, about his father's whereabouts. Not getting the information they wanted, they beat him with a gun until leaving him for dead, although he was hospitalized and survived.

Abdi Mbera told Compass it is urgent to help Christians flee Somalia, "before they are wiped out."

Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin earlier reported when al-Shabaab was linked to the stoning execution of a 13-year-old girl.

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