The youngsters handed over Salim to security forces, the persecution watchdog International Christian Concern stated.

“This young man is a great terrorist. He is a very big player in the activities of slaughtering Christians in this part of Beni (Congo),” a source in Beni told the Maryland-based ICC.

“We have been receiving pictures and short films of him cutting the throats of Christians and the police,” the source added. “It is said that he is the one who captures them or has them captured via his telephone by fellow rebels when he is in the process of acting and publishes them as propaganda. He is already an Allied Democratic Forces commander.”

The Islamist rebel group Allied Democratic Forces, based in Uganda, has carried out attacks on civilians and clashed with security forces in Congo’s Nord Kivu and Ituri provinces in recent years, killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands of people.

Those provinces have been under a “state of siege,” according to Amnesty International. 

Congo and Uganda launched a joint operation against ADF on Nov. 30. 

As security forces have been unable to prevent Allied Democratic Forces attacks, Uganda announced last month that its soldiers will stay in the DRC for as long as needed to defeat the terrorist group. 

Since his arrest, videos have emerged of Salim explaining his motivations for carrying out deadly attacks, according to ICC. When speaking of a video showing him beheading a DRC officer, he was quoted as saying that he had been given a machete by the ADF to “behead the government’s soldier that we had captured.”

“They told me to draw attention to all the people of the world that there was Islam in Congo, and they were invited to come and spread the Islamic religion so that Islam can rule the whole world,” he said, according to ICC. “So, I killed the FARDC soldier in the name of Allah.”

ICC reports that Salim was radicalized as a teen at a popular Mosque in Mombasa, Kenya, and is believed to have recruited youth into terror groups in East Africa. He was also believed to have joined the Islamic State insurgency in Mozambique.

It is unclear if Congo will extradite Salim to Kenya.

Salim’s father, Mohamed Rashid, told journalists on Sunday that he had not seen his son since 2020, and the family had no idea of his son’s location. 

“Dealing with the pain of his disappearance was difficult because we did not know about his whereabouts,” Rashid was quoted as saying by Kenyans.co.

“This boy went to the best schools and he performed well. He is a humble boy who loved his religion. We don’t know what got into him until things got to the point where they are now.”

He called for his son to be prosecuted in Kenya. 

“My plea to the government is to help bring him to Kenya,” the father said. “He should come to Mombasa so that I see him and check that he is OK then they can do their work. He should be sentenced here.”