Kenyan youths kill three men on coast after police raid mosques
Tue Nov 18, 2014 10:32am GMT
MOMBASA, Kenya Nov 18 (Reuters) - A group of youths with machetes and knives
killed three people on Kenya's coast after police raided two mosques that
officials said were used to recruit Islamist militants, police said on
Tuesday.
At least two of the three were Christian.
About 10 youths chanting "Allahu Akbar", or "God is greatest", killed a
shopkeeper who tried to close his store in case of a riot, police had said
late on Monday. The man's brother said he was Christian. On Tuesday, police
said two more people had been killed, at least one of them Christian.
Police had raided two Mombasa mosques on Monday, seizing weapons and
literature, which officials said was evidence of militant activity. They
shot one man dead, who they said was trying to attack them, and arrested 251
other people.
Kenya has been trying to break up the militant networks that it blames for a
series of attacks on its coast and the port city of Mombasa, saying many of
the recruits have been inspired by al Qaeda-linked Somali Islamist group, al
Shabaab.
Mombasa county police commander Robert Kitur said the youths had killed the
two other men when they attacked people on public transport. Two more people
were wounded, he said.
"We have launched an operation which is still ongoing, and so far we have
arrested 16 suspects," he said, referring to detentions related to violence
after the raid.
The detainees were expected to be charged on Tuesday, he said.
Civil rights groups say police have been targeting Muslims unfairly,
deepening distrust in a community which already accuses the government in
mainly Christian Kenya of sidelining them.
Police raids in the past on other mosques, which officials suspect of being
used as recruitment centres, have sparked violent protests. (Reporting by
Joseph Akwiri; Editing by Edmund Blair and Louise Ireland)