Paul KeenanKenya – A Muslim cleric has been shot dead in an attack apparently linked to the September massacre by the al Shabab group in the Westgate mall in Nairobi.
Sheikh Ibrahim Omar was targeted as he drove with four others through the city of Mombasa on October 3. Only one person survived the attack.
Police immediately moved to try and contain Muslim violence in the wake of the killing, but one church was torched by rioters as news of the shooting spread.
The killing is significant in that Omar was the successor to Aboud Mohammed, an imam shot dead last year for his alleged links to al Shabab. That killing also led to Muslim rioting. Both Omar and Mohammed peached at the Masjid Musa mosque which is attended by radical elements.