Kenya Navy soldiers gun down man for 'throwing stones at military truck'

Mombasa, Kenya: Kenya Navy soldiers Thursday shot and killed a man outside their base, sparking protests from rights activists and family members.

There are conflicting reports about the victim's mental health but The Standard has established Ndoro Mwembe has had a criminal record and was once linked to a separatist group.

Reports indicate the man had confessed to a rights group that he had been radicalised by an unnamed Government official and even named some State officials who had links to an extremist group.

But Wednesday the State maintained Mwembe was gunned down after hurling stones at pupils inside a military truck.

Family members alleged Mwembe had a mental problem but a close friend of the deceased who spoke to The Standard argued the theory of ill-health could have been invented as a cover-up of some information.

Some family members who questioned Mwembe's recent psychiatric health also confessed he had lived away for a while.

Grace Anzazi Mwembe alleged his brother was shot in the chest after surrendering to soldiers who had chased him over a distance.

"It was around 6am as I was preparing to open my business when I was called by neighbours and told that Navy officers had shot my brother. I ran to the scene at Dona Olinda School where we found the body of my brother lying in a pool of blood," Grace said at the Coast General Hospital where the body was taken by police.

Confirming the shooting, Likoni OCPD Willy Simba alleged Mwembe hurled stones inside the vehicle carrying Navy soldiers, injuring six pupils inside.

Haki Africa expressed disappointment with the conduct of the soldiers and demanded investigations, with human rights coordinator Francis Auma terming the incident as pure extra-judicial killing.