Conflicting reports of fatalities from Mombasa chaos as 125 arraigned in court

Some of the 125 Mombasa Muslim youths who were arrested on Sunday at the Shanzu Law Court Monday. [PHOTO: GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD]

By THE STANDARD TEAM

MOMBASA, KENYA: A day after the mayhem at the Coastal town, human rights activists told The Standard that at least six militant youths were killed in the storming of the controversial Musa Mosque.

But authorities said only two were killed.

One of the dead was a male youth from Kwale or Mombasa who police and independent accounts indicate was shot at close range after he stabbed and wrestled a G-3 rifle from a police officer.

“One civilian who wrestled a gun from the police officer who was injured was shot and killed,” said Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa.

Marwa said one other civilian died from “unknown causes” as he claimed that police “who camped outside the mosque since 10.30 am decided to storm it only after they were fired at from inside the mosque. “These people were prepared for war,” Marwa said.

Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur said one police officer injured in Sunday’s violence is still in the Intensive Care Unit at the Pandya Memorial Hospital while “another is now out of danger".

But Hussein Khalid, the Executive Director of Haki Africa human rights group, told The Standard that four bodies of youths were recovered at the Coast General Hospital.

Khalid identified two of them as Salim Khamis Salim from Kinango and Ramadhan Ahmed Salim from Mombasa.

Khalid alleged that bodies of the two, alongside two other unidentified ones, bore bullet injuries sustained in shooting at the mosque.

It was not clear who between Ramadhan and Khamis was killed while trying to grab the gun in the mosque. 

Khalid claimed he had received reports that two of those killed were buried on Sunday night. The bodies were removed from the Coast General Hospital morgue.

Reports indicated that authorities shelved the drastic action to shut down Musa and Sakina Mosques perceived as the breeding ground for radical Islamism in Mombasa as they had earlier threatened. Instead, the government resolved to have their activities monitored by security committees.

The mosques are dominated by Salafist supporters of slain radical Islamist Sheikh Aboud Rogo.

On Monday, four suspects arrested at the mosque on Sunday were under armed guard at the Coast General Hospital.

Police made an application at the Shanzu Law Courts to detain the 125, including three women, for five days to enable detectives complete investigations, level charges, take their DNA samples for profiling and complete prosecution documents.

Although government officials were cagey on why they allowed the outlawed convention to take place on Sunday, The Standard has also learnt that the Mombasa County Security Committee hatched a meticulous plan to lure wanted Al-Shabaab and al Qaida suspects into a trap at the mosque.

Security sources said all the detainees will be profiled for links to extremist groups and that all those aged 15 years and above will be charged.

HARDCORE JIHADISTS

Sources said although officials of the County Security Committee favoured preventing the Jihad Convention from taking place, the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU), which brought the suspects to court yesterday, reportedly convinced the team to allow it to proceed anticipating that known hard-core jihadists would attend the convention.

Save for one militant who fled after being detained, intelligence sources claimed the operation was a success.

“This was one of the most successful operations launched by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit because Al-Shabaab made a great mistake by congregating in one place at the same time and now we have captured them,” said a top security official who asked not to be named.

Other sources said militants went ahead with the gathering because they did not expect police to storm the mosque.

Early Monday, a thick security cordon was thrown around Makupa Police Station in Mombasa where many of the suspects were believed held after police received intelligence reports that armed militants were planning an operation to free their captured colleagues.

One of those detained is a brother of a Kenyan Al-Shabaab weapons trainer based in Somalia, according to police sources.

At the courts, Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate James Omburah allowed a police application to extend the suspects’ detention as their identities began to unravel.

Omburah allowed the police to carry out DNA tests on all the 129, adding that he was satisfied with the police application and would listen to the matter again on February 7.

“I have carefully listened to the police’s application in which they say the security of the State is at stake. They say the investigation is also not complete,” said Omburah as the suspects chanted “Allah Akbar” or “God is Greatest”.

Corporal Simon Simiyu told the magistrate that he was investigating the suspects for serious crimes related to being members of Al-Shabaab.

Among those being investigated are three women arrested in the mosque. Two of them are held with children below two years.

Others in detention include a 17-year-old Form Three student at Aldina Visram School and a clerk at an advocate’s firm.

Some of the suspects wore red and white chequered scarfs and conducted prayers in the court. They defiantly vowed to return to the mosque to “fight for our rights.”

CONDEMNING POLICE

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar and Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir led some Muslim leaders in condemning police for storming “a holy place in shoes.”

Sheikh Juma Ngao, the chairman of the Kenya National Muslim Advisory Council, while condemned the storming of the mosque, accused militants of provoking a police invasion by firing from inside the mosque.

County Commissioner Marwa defiantly told off the lamenting Muslim leaders saying that police believe five businessmen including “one who was arrested last month” were behind the convention.

Reporting by Willis Oketch, Philip Mwakio, Ben Sanga, Stanley Mwahanga, Patrick Beja and Ishaq Jumbe