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Unknown assailants shot dead a senior Muslim cleric in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa on Tuesday night in the latest incidents of insecurity targeting religious leaders in the region.
Mombasa County commander Robert Kitur confirmed the incident, saying Imam Sheikh Mwarangi was confronted by gunmen who shot him at close range and fled in motorbike along Likoni area of Mombasa.
Kitur said the cleric was pronounced as he was being rushed to private hospital. He said detectives have launched investigation and manhunt for the killer gang.
He said a team of police officers has been dispatched to the scene to piece together evidence as manhunt for the attackers intensifies.
Police source confirmed that the sheikh and imam at Bilal Mosque might have been killed by radical Muslim youth behind recent terror attacks in the coastal city.
Police are investigating radical youth alleged involvement in Sunday attempted invasion at Navy barracks in Mombasa, where a soldier and seven attackers were killed and one arrested.
Security source believe the attackers were Al-Shabaab returnees working in cahoots with local militant group, including the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) blamed for a series of insecurity in the tourism resort city.
The government has in the past days been claiming the group is regrouping and planning attacks.
Police believe the groups have been conducting secret recruitment of new members to plot attacks in the coastal region that has witnessed a string of terror acts in the past few months. Enditem
