Raila condemns Mombasa church attack
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga with the Kenyan Diaspora in Boston Massachusetts on March 21, 2014.
What you need to know:
- Gunmen, with faces covered in balaclavas, attacked the Joy in Jesus Church in Mombasa on Sunday at 10.30am.
- Mr Odinga joined Kenyans in the Diaspora in sending condolence messages to families of those afflicted.
Boston, Massachusetts
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has condemned the attack at a church in Mombasa on Sunday terming it a cowardly act of terrorism.
The Cord leader, who is currently in the US on invitation of the African Presidential Centre at Boston University in Massachusetts, said Kenya would not succumb to such acts of groups that lack respect for human life.
“We must jointly condemn in the strongest terms possible, the acts of terrorism which took place at the church in Mombasa.
“The attack was meted against innocent people who were praying.
“These are some of the things we are going through but we will defeat them,” he said.
Police cordon off the area after gunmen attacked a church in Likoni on March 23, 2014. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA
Gunmen, with faces covered in balaclavas, attacked the Joy in Jesus Church in Kenya's coastal city on Sunday at 10.30am. (READ: Terror in Mombasa church)
SHOT FLEEING WORSHIPPERS
According to witnesses, one gunman entered the church through the back door and started shooting indiscriminately while two others, armed with an AK-47 rifle and a pistol, waited outside and shot fleeing worshippers.
Mrs Lilian Omondi, the pastor’s wife, said one of the attackers who entered the church was tall and slender, dressed in a long-sleeved yellow shirt.
On Sunday, Mr Odinga joined Kenyans in the Diaspora in sending condolence messages to families of those afflicted.
“I want to express our joint condolences to those people who have lost their dear ones in Mombasa.
Mvita MP Abdullswamad Shariff Nassir consoles Dennis Nicholas, 42, at the Coast General Hospital after he was injured during an attack by gunmen at a church in Likoni March 23, 2014. KEVIN ODIT/NATION.
“I was informed when coming here that there had been a terrorist attack in Mombasa,” he told the congregation at St Stephens Church in Lowell, Massachusetts,
Rev Samuel Kimohu, senior pastor at the church, urged the Kenyan government to act fast and deal with the attackers.
“The church is where Christians go to communicate with God. It is a place where those who are troubled go to find peace. It is therefore worrying that it has now become a soft target for terrorists. This must be stopped,” he said.
