Muslims riding on a bus when it was attacked in northern Kenya are being commended for protecting their fellow Christian passengers.

The bus was travelling from Nairobi and had stopped in Papa City when a group of militants began to shoot, according to Associated Press.

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The group is believed to be part of the Somali islamist group al-Shabaab, retaliating in response to Kenyan involvement in Somalia.

Two people died in the attack, but Muslims have been hailed for limiting the number of deaths by helping Christians to protect their identities from the terrorists.

When militants boarded the bus and demanded the group split into Muslims and non-Muslims, headscarves were donated to the Christian contingent as a disguise.

One non-Muslim attempted to escape and was fatally shot.

Translating as ‘the youth’ in Arabic, al-Shabaab is an Al-Qaeda-allied group aimed at bringing down the UN-backed government in Somalia.

Since Kenya entered the war against Somali extremists in 2011, it has suffered a number of attacks on non-Muslims at the hands of al-Shabaab.

At least 147 students were killed and 79 injured after Al-Shabaab’s terrorist attack at Kenya’s Garissa University College in March 2015, while a November 2014 attack killed 28 and a December 2014 attacked killed 36.

Al-Shabaab is identified as a banned terrorist group in both the US and the UK.