person was killed on Wednesday, witnesses said, in a third day of
violence over the killing of a man in a police raid on a mosque used
by firebrand preachers,Reutersreports.
Kenya is trying to break up militant recruitment networks among its
Muslim community in efforts to end attacks by Somali Islamist
militants and their sympathizers bent on punishing it for sending
troops to Somalia to fight al Shabaab rebels.
The east African country, which has the region's largest economy, is
still reeling from an al Shabaab attack on a luxury shopping mall in
Nairobi in September which at least 67 people were killed.
On Wednesday evening, youths pelted vehicles with rocks and torched
motorcycles in a third day of disturbances since the Sunday raid on
the mosque, creating a major traffic snarl up on the busy highway that
leads into Mombasa from the hinterland.
Witnesses said police fired teargas and bullets over the heads of
crowds to scatter them, with youths shouting "killers" at the
officers. A witness said one of his colleagues, an artisan, was killed
by rioters on his way home from work.
"This is my colleague. I work with him at a workshop in Majengo. He
was attacked, stabbed and killed two hours ago by those rioters," Tom
Mutua told Reuters at the hospital in Mombasa where the body had been
taken from the scene, referring to a run-down neighborhood in the
Indian Ocean port city.
AReuterswitness said some youths had stoned bystanders and that around
10 people had been stabbed.
"These were rowdy youth who attacked anyone at random for no reason. I
am sure even some Muslims were injured. This is a problem for
everybody, not just one religion," said Robert Kitur, the Mombasa
county police chief.
"They can say anything they want and accuse police of anything but
from our end, we are only aware of three deaths, that of two youths
and a police officer whom they killed on Sunday."
AReuterswitness who visited the Masjid Mussa mosque stormed on Sunday
saw dry blood stains on the carpet, walls and curtains, bullet holes
in the walls and spent cartridges and broken glass littering the
floor.
Kenyan security officials say the Masjid Mussa mosque is a hotbed of
militant activity, in particular recruitment of disgruntled young
Kenyan Muslims into local Islamist networks and al Shabaab in Somalia.
Worshippers at the mosque accuse the security services of operating a
death squad, a charge the police deny.
Kenya's coastal region is heavily dependent on tourism and occasional
grenade attacks by al Shabaab and rioting by disaffected youths are
putting off foreign visitors.
Tensions on Kenya's mainly Muslim coast have increased in recent
months following the assassinations of several Muslim clerics and
Christian preachers.
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