Four stabbed to death by knife-wielding youth in Mombasa

Mombasa, Kenya: Four people were Monday night stabbed to death by a group of armed youths in Mlaleo, Kisauni in Mombasa, hours after police raided two mosques killing one and arrested 251 youths.

According to police, a gang of between 10 and 15 descended on the public at about 7pm and started to stab those on sight while shouting “Allahu Wakibar” slogans.

Two people were injured in the attacks and are admitted to St Fatima Hospital.

“Their condition is life threatening,” One officer said on Tuesday morning.

Kisauni OCPD Richard Ngatia said some of the attackers had a black flag that is usually displayed by the Somalia militants, Al-Shabaab.

“We do not know the motive of the attack because they just attacked people randomly. We are investigating,” said Ngatia.

The incident came hours after police had staged daring raids on Masjid Musa and Sakina mosques where they recovered eight grenades, a pistol with six bullets, knives and DVDs with jihad teachings.

One of the youths, who were in the mosques, was shot dead after he allegedly tried to hurl a grenade at the officers. Of the 251 arrested, 24 had returned from Somalia where they joined the terror group for a fight against the government, police said.

Police say they had intelligence of the group before they staged the raid.

The recovered weapons, which also included knives, were later displayed to journalists.

Mombasa OCPD Geoffrey Mayek said the raids were staged following intelligence reports.

“We have made a breakthrough and we hope to get more information from those arrested,” he said.

Tension remained high in the area even as more police officers were deployed to keep peace.