Mosque power struggles set backdrop to cleric killing in Mombasa

MOMBASA (KON)-Gunmen in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa on Tuesday (June 10th) shot dead Mohamed Idris, an influential moderate Muslim preacher who was a vocal opponent of al-Shabaab and extremist ideology.

News Keydmedia Online
11 June 2014

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, Mombasa police chief Robert Kitur told AFP.

Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa said it was a drive-by shooting, with unknown gunmen firing from a motorbike.

"They shot him in the abdomen and he was pronounced dead at the hospital," Marwa said. "He was a pillar of unity among our people and he has left a vacuum."

Mombasa County Criminal Investigation Department commander Henry Ondiek told Sabahi they "are treating the sheikh