Gunmen kill prominent Kenyan Muslim preacher

Gunmen have shot and killed a prominent Muslim cleric known for opposing religious radicalism in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa.

Sheikh Mohamed Idris, 64, chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, was shot in the stomach shortly before dawn as he headed to prayers at Sakina mosque, Mombasa police chief Robert Kitur said on Tuesday.

Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa described the incident as a drive-by shooting, adding that unidentified armed men fired from a motorbike.

“They shot him in the abdomen and he was pronounced dead at the hospital,” Marwa said.

A Mombasa police commander, Henry Ondiek, said neither the motive nor the identities of the assailants are known.

President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to “bring the killers to book.”

“Sheikh Idris was at the forefront in the fight against the radicalization of the youth, and therefore his death is a big blow to the country’s efforts to stop religious extremism,” Kenyatta said in a statement.
Idris is the fourth leading Muslim cleric to be shot dead in Mombasa in two years. Sheik Aboud Rogo Mohammed was killed in August 2012. Sheik Ibrahim Ismael was assassinated in October last year.

In April, gunmen shot and killed Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, known as Makaburi, near a mosque in Mombasa.

Human rights activists assert that the Kenyan government is behind the long string of killings of Muslim leaders.