Police deny killing Muslim preacher

Police on SUnday denied any involvement in the killing of Sheikh Ibrahim Umar with his three companions.

Police spokeswoman Zipporah Mboroki said they were treating the incident as a murder case and investigations into the shooting had been launched.

“We are treating this incident as normal murder and investigations are ongoing with the clear view of apprehending the culprits. It is too early to point fingers,” said Ms Mboroki in a telephone interview with the Nation.

Sheikh Umar, popularly known as Rogo or Logo, and his three companions were shot dead in Mombasa last week, near the spot where his predecessor, Sheikh Aboud Rogo was slain last year.

Police boss Robert Kitur on Friday told journalists that the fiery preacher was one of the clerics radicalising youth in the county.

“There is nothing to connect him with anything…We have not accused him of anything,” Ms Mboroki said.

The spokeswoman also denied that the cleric was on a police watch list after he was linked to Al-Shabaab recruitment of youth in the country including a recent incident where five youth from Mombasa were arrested in Dobley town, Somalia.

The Sunday Times newspaper alleged on Sunday that Western governments and human rights agencies believe that the Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit was behind extra-judicial killings in the country.

The newspaper also quoted the late Sheikh Umar, shortly after preaching a sermon, in which he predicted the police would be coming for him.

The chairman of Kenya Muslims Advisory Council Sheikh Juma Ngao and other Muslim leaders, on Sunday condemned the Thursday killings in a press conference at Panorama Hotel, Mombasa.