Police link suspect to clerics’ killings

Police have arrested a man they claim is connected to last year’s killing of moderate Muslim clerics at the Coast.

Mr Said Swaleh Said Awadh was arrested by anti-terrorism officers in Mandera on Monday, allegedly while on his way to join Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

He was interrogated over the killing of Sheikh Mohamed Idris who was the chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya in June last year.

Sheikh Idris was killed by gunmen next to a mosque near his home.

Before his death, he was at the forefront in the fight against radicalisation of the youth at the Coast.

BOTH SIDES

At the time of his death, Al-Shabaab terrorist group had drawn a line between moderate and radical sheikhs, with casualties witnessed on both sides.

The radicals were interested in ensuring youths took over mosques in Mombasa while the moderate ones resisted and cooperated with security agencies in carrying out operations to make sure the mosques were administered by elders.

Police said Mr Awadh has been on their radar since the spate of killing targeting the clerics.

Besides Sheikh Idris, four other moderate clerics were killed at the Coast between 2012 and last year.

The Directorate of Military Intelligence has increased surveillance and reconnaissance operations on the extensive Somalia border.

Last Friday, police arrested three young women as they tried to sneak into Somalia allegedly to get married to Al-Shabaab fighters.

The women, two Kenyans and a Tanzanian, who are said to be students, were apprehended at El Wak on the Kenya-Somalia border and were charged in court on Monday.

Two are aged 21 and the other is 19, according to police. They are the first suspected female jihadists to be arrested in East Africa trying to cross into Somalia.