Two feared dead in Mombasa riots

At least two people, among them a General Service Unit officer, were feared dead Sunday afternoon in bloody clashes between a group of radical youth and anti-riot police outside a Mombasa mosque.

It was not immediately established how the GSU officer met his death, but police sources indicated that he was shot by a bullet fired from the side of rioters at the Masjid Musa mosque in Majengo.

Police also recovered an assortment of weapons, including a G3 rifle grabbed from the slain officer, an AK 47 rifle and numerous daggers and other crude weapons.

Some of the youth were also feared dead in the skirmishes which started shortly after midday prayers and lunch break.

The youth converged at the mosque as early as 8am to participate in a planned Jihad meeting which went on for more than five hours.

The conveners of the meeting distributed leaflets last week inviting youths from all walks of life to participate in the gathering they said is meant to propagate jihadist ideologies.

The one page posters pinned on walls of many mosques and other public areas around Mombasa island and mainland areas indicated laws on Jihad, rites of martyrs and history of hypocrisy as topics of discussion.

HOISTED FLAGS

The youths hoisted several flags resembling those used by the Somali-based Al-Shabaab terrorist group from the top of the Masjid Musa mosque to bottom as they continued with their gathering.

However, violence broke out after police officers arrived and surrounded the mosque to stop the gathering slated to end after 8 pm evening prayers.

Some of the youth, some as young as 9 years, escaped via the backdoor of the mosque and started to pelt the officers with stones.

Armed police officers from the regular and Administration police and the paramilitary General Service Unit responded with teargas canisters and bullets fired in the air to disperse the irate youth.

Some of the youths from inside the mosque taunted the police officers, calling them "cowards", "infidels" and other insults as they kept up hail of stones from different directions.

At around 4:30pm some plain cloth officers stormed the mosque and arrested several youth who were bundled into waiting vehicles.

More than 60 youths were flushed out from mosque where they are said to have gathered since Friday to undergo jihadist sermons from radicalised leaders.

The youth had retreated to the mosque’s minarat (distinctive architectural feature at the top of mosques) where police pursued them.

Mombasa police commander Robert Kitur directed that they be taken to different police stations for screening and questioning.

“Make sure they are profiled properly before they are taken to court tomorrow (Monday),” he said as he ordered another contingent to reinforce those flushing out the youths hiding in different sections of the mosque.

RECOVERED GUN

At 5.20 pm the police recovered a G3 rifle that had been grabbed from an injured GSU officer who was cornered while pursuing the rioters within the mosque before he was knifed on the neck.

After flushing out the last group of about 15 youths, the security officer recovered an AK47, three laptops, hundreds of Jihadist CDs, and three bundles of tobacco among other items.

Following the chaos, the Mombasa County criminal investigative officer Henry Ondieki said the youths had distributed leaflets over their jihad sermons at the mosque.

The Mombasa County security committee will be meeting either Monday or Tuesday to discuss the fate of the controversial mosque.

Mr Ondieki said the mosque has been turned into a "radical institution" that should be stopped from "corrupting young people".

“This is not a mosque for prayers but a base for recruiting Muslim youths to engage in terrorist activities,” he said adding they wanted to ensure mosques were used only for prayers.

He posed: “How can you conduct prayers armed with guns, crude weapons and other paraphernalia to cause mayhem and disrupt peace?”

The officer added that they would scrutinise and analyse the three laptops and the CDs before preferring further charges against those in custody. He disclosed a number of officers suffered different degrees of injuries in the course of duty.

County commissioner Nelson Marwa warned that they would not allow any religious institution to be used as a training field for radicalism.

“We have been keeping an eye on Masjid Musa and Sakina Mosques for a while and we are not happy with what goes on there from the radicalised Muslim youths,” he said adding that stern action would be taken against those behind that extremism.