Muslim cleric shot and killed in Mombasa

Mombasa, Kenya: A cleric believed to be moderate was Tuesday night shot dead by unknown assailants outside a mosque in Likoni, Mombasa.

Sheikh Salim Bakari Mwarangi was shot while he was leaving Bilal Mosque after prayers and died while being attended to in hospital.

Police said he was shot three times, twice in the abdomen and once in the arm, by two attackers who were on a motorbike.

The attackers escaped soon after the shooting.

His colleagues said Sheikh Mwarangi supported government efforts to stamp out radicalism among youth in the region.

The youths have taken over a number of mosques in the area in a radical manner.

Mombasa County Police Commander Robert Kitur said investigations into the incident are ongoing.

“We do not know who the attackers are. He died while being attended to in hospital,” he said.

 

Officials said the slain cleric was a peace activist and his killing may have been tied to his stand against extremism in Mombasa. 

He was a member of the Mombasa peace committee and was helping the government a lot in dealing with radicalisation and guiding Muslim youth towards the right path.

He becomes the latest Muslim cleric to fall victim to violence in the region.

Sheikh Mohammed Idris, chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK), was in June killed by assailants at a mosque in the same area.

No arrest has been made so far.

Activists say the latest killing brings to 22, the number of clerics who have been killed or disappeared since 2000 in police operations.

Police deny involvement in the incidents and instead blame infighting as the reasons behind the attacks.