Radical Muslim militias attacked a bus in Kenya on monday. A brutal massacre was almost certain to happen. After shooting the bus from outside, killing two passengers, one of them while he was attempting to flee the scene of the assault, Al-Shabaab fighters entered and started shouting at the passengers.

They wanted the Muslim locals to identify the  Christians among them. There is little doubt as to what would have happened to the Christians if the Muslims would have complied.

In 2014, 28 people were killed by militias on a similar attack on a bus in the province of Mandera.

The attackers forced all passengers off the bus and tried to single out the Christian passengers among them. They ordered the  Muslims to return to the bus, as they were free to go.

The muslims, however, refused to return and remained silent, even when the terrorists threatened to kill every single person present.

With at least  10 heavily armed attackers threatening them, the locals saved their neighbors’ lives by refusing to cooperate.

In a region that is regularly the scene of vicious terror attacks, it is stories like these, that make us hope that the power of tolerance can eventually overcome the cruel brutality of a senseless war.