NAIROBI, KENYA (BosNewsLife)– Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab uses converts from religious Christianity to Islam to carry out deadly attacks against churches in neighboring Kenya as part of what they call a "holy war", or Jihad, officials said in comments monitored by BosNewsLife Sunday, November 4.

The announcement came as Kenya's Red Cross said a blast at a church inside a police compound in the eastern town of Garissa killed a police officer who also served as the pastor, and injured at least 13 others.

Christians identified the killed pastor as Julius Mukonzi and added that several people had wounds so serious that they were air-lifted to Kenyatta General Hospital in the capital Nairobi.

Police said militants with suspected links to al-Shabab were believed to be responsible on the for the blast that rocked the Utawala Interdenominational church in the Administrative Police compound.