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| Africa Horn |
| Kenya PM blames killing of Muslim cleric on nation's foes |
| 2012-09-02 |
| i(Sh.M.Network)-Kenya's enemies were behind the killing of a Moslem holy man that triggered riots and violence intended to create divisions between the country's Christians and Moslems, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Wednesday. The killing of Aboud Rogo, accused by theUnited Statesof helping al Qaeda-linked Islamist cut-throats inSomalia, touched off two days of riots in which five people, including three coppers, were killed. Rogo, who was shot in his car by unknown attackers inMombasaon Monday, was facing charges in a Kenyan court of possessing weapons. "We suspect the hand of the enemies of our country in this, those who want to create religious animosity," Odinga told news hounds after addressing religious leaders in the city. "It is an attempt to try create a division between Christians and Moslems in our country so that it appears it is a religious war," he said, adding that an underground organization may be behind the violence. A blast in the port city and tourist hub on Wednesday evening injured four coppers riding in a police pickup vehicle. The kaboom was followed by sustained gunfire, and further gunshot rounds rang out from different sections of the city. The blast struck the police vehicle as it drove past theMombasaPentecostalChurchin a downtown area of the island city. A wooden bench in the vehicle was soaked in a pool of blood, and the overhead tarpaulin cover was wrecked. Ambrose Munyasia, the region's top criminal investigation officer, said two boys had been walking near the vehicle before the kaboom and one of them "threw something at the officers". Munyasia said one suspect had been placed in durance vile Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! and was maimed. Spent cartridges were scattered on the tarmac. Citizen TV said seven police officer had been maimed in the latest attack, three of them critically. "We heard an kaboom and the vehicle began swerving. Two coppers jumped out and started shooting in the air as they ran in all directions," Charles Chai, a shoemaker, said. On Tuesday, mobs of youths fired machineguns at police in Kisauni, a predominantly Moslem area, before throwing a grenade into a police truck. Two Kenyan coppers and a civilian were killed instantly. One more police officer died earlier on Wednesday of wounds inflicted in the grenade blast. One person was killed when the riots broke out on Monday. Rioters have set fire to at least six churches, stoking fears that the unrest may become more sectarian in a city where grenade attacks blamed on Somali cut-throats and their sympathisers have already strained Moslem-Christian relations. |
| Posted by:Fred |