By Magdalene Mukami
NAIROBI
Two Muslims, including a firebrand scholar, were gunned down late Tuesday by unidentified armed men in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa.
Mombasa police boss Robert Kitur told Anadolu Agency that Sheikh Abubakar Shariff, popularly known as Makaburi, and a yet unidentified colleague were killed.
The two were shot dead in the Shanzu area in Mombasa while driving along the Mombasa-Lamu road.
Makaburi was the most outspoken cleric in Kenya's coast region and enjoyed a huge following.
He preached at the Shuhadaa Mosque, which was raided by Kenyan police in February on charges of being used to radicalize young Muslims.
A local resident of Majengo, the neighborhood where the mosque is located, told AA that the area was a no-go zone as youths loyal to the slain cleric barricaded roads to protest his murder.
It is not clear who was behind the killing and authorities have yet to issue an official statement.
Makaburi was killed in the same way as Sheikh Aboud Rogo, another firebrand Muslim scholar.
Rogo was heading to his home in Mombasa when unidentified armed men showered his car with bullets two years ago.
Kenyan human rights activists had protested the killing of several Muslim scholars in mysterious circumstances in recent years dismissing the incidents as extrajudicial killing by Kenyan security forces.
Makaburi had publicly said that as long as Kenya continued to have its soldiers in neighboring Somalia it should expect more attacks by the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab.
He justified last September's Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi in which 67 people were killed. The attack was claimed by Al-Shabaab.
Makaburi was accused of being involved in recruiting young people from Mombasa for the Somali militant group.
He was due to appear in court soon in connection with a 2010 grenade attack in Nairobi that left one person dead.
Makaburi was also facing charges in court for being a member of an outlawed group.
Additional reporting by Yassin Juma
englishnews@aa.com.tr
