Police raid Swafaa Mosque, recover assorted weapons

Mombasa, Kenya: Police on Tuesday night staged a raid on a third mosque in Mombasa and recovered crude weapons, petrol bombs, a hand grenade, six bullets and a flag.

However, there was no arrest made in the raid at Swafaa Mosque.

Kisauni OCPD Richard Ngatia said they had intelligence that there were youth holed up inside before they raided the mosque in Kisauni.

"We have made progress in ridding of this problem and operations are ongoing," said Ngatia.

Witnesses said the youth, who were present, sneaked out of the mosque as the officers arrived.

The raid came hours after Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku said some of the youth arrested from the Skina and Musa mosques in Mombasa were planning to take over other mosques in the region.

“Drawing on intelligence which indicated a continued planning to take over other mosques violently, security forces launched an operation,” said Lenku, adding that the youth were already in charge of Skina and Musa mosques.

He said 21 of those nabbed had been linked to terror activities and had several Al-Shabaab paraphernalia including their flag.

At the Sakina Mosque, six suspects were arrested with assorted weapons including a pistol, three hand grenades, two laptops and a CPU, which had crime related information and terrorism manuals.

At the Musa Mosque, 15 suspects were arrested and assorted weapons including two hand grenades and bomb making materials were found.

Lenku said the one youth was after he tried to hurl a grenade at the police.