- Title: KENYA: Three killed in Kenya's Mombasa riots after cleric shot dead.
- Date: 28th August 2012
- Summary: ++VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC FOOTAGE++ MOMBASA, KENYA (AUGUST 28, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE ON PATROL POLICE CAPS ON FIRE
- Embargoed: 12th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Crime,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA1YUFX9UH62V6IFJ0JH3IKAAZ4
- Story Text: Three are killed and many wounded as rioters hurl a grenade at officers in the port city of Mombasa after two days of chaos over the killing of radical Muslim cleric Aboud Mohamed Rogo.
Two Kenyan police officers and a civilian were killed when rioters hurled a grenade at officers in the port city of Mombasa on Tuesday (August 28) after two days of violence over the killing of a radical Muslim cleric.
Mobs of youths had fired at police with machineguns just before throwing the grenade into a police truck, police said.
The riots broke out on Monday (August 27) after Aboud Rogo, accused by the United States of helping al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in Somalia, was shot dead. Gunmen sprayed Rogo's car with bullets in an attack many Muslims in Mombasa blamed on the police, who denied involvement.
Police said at least 16 officers were wounded in the grenade attack in Kisauni, a predominantly Muslim area, where youths set two churches on fire and barricaded roads with burning tyres as the riots spread to the outskirts of Kenya's second-biggest city, a tourist hub and major Indian Ocean port.
Tuesday's chaos prompted the provincial administration to issue a warning of arrest to protesters as the city's main streets, usually thronged with shoppers and foreign tourists, were deserted and some shops looted.
"Anybody who breaks the law will be dealt with because a country can not be governed without laws. That is why we have courts, prisons and police officers," said Samuel Kilele, Coast provincial commissioner.
One person was killed in riots on Monday (August 27) when protesters set fire to several churches, stoking fears the unrest may become more sectarian in a city where grenade attacks blamed on Somali militants and their sympathisers have already strained Muslim-Christian relations. Mombasa has a big Muslim minority.
Police and Muslim leaders had described the church burning as impulsive, not premeditated.
On Tuesday the gangs of youths appeared to focus their anger more on the police.
Church leaders scrapped plans for a peaceful march on Tuesday for fear it might incite further clashes in a country where overall relations between Muslims and Christians have been relatively good.
Washington and Nairobi had both accused Rogo of helping al Shabaab, Somalia's Islamist rebel group.
The al Qaeda-linked militant group urged Kenyan Muslims on Tuesday to protect their religion at all costs and boycott next year's presidential election. It condemned what it called a "witch-hunt" against Muslims by the Kenyan authorities.
"Muslims must take the matter into their own hands, stand united against the Kuffar (non-believers) and take all necessary measures to protect their religion, their honour, their property and their lives from the enemies of Islam," al Shabaab said in a statement posted on the social media site Twitter.
The violence could worsen if it taps into long-standing local grievances over land ownership and unemployment, as well as calls by the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) for the coastal strip to secede. The MRC said it was not involved in the unrest.
Prolonged trouble in Mombasa would hit Kenya's vital tourism industry, already damaged by the kidnappings of Western women tourists from beach resorts by Somali gunmen, at the height of the tourist season.
The unrest could also knock trade and transport to Kenya's landlocked neighbours. Rwanda and Uganda rely on Mombasa port for imports of food, consumer goods and fuel. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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