Kenyan Muslim cleric killed in aftermath of mall attack

Gunmen in Kenya have killed a Muslim cleric who had preached at a mosque linked to Al-Shabab — the armed group responsible for last month's siege at an upscale Nairobi mall — sparking riots in the port city of Mombasa.

The apparent assassination of Sheikh Ibrahim Omar and three others follows the killing of at least 67 people in the days-long attack on the Westgate mall on Sept. 21, for which Al-Shabab claimed responsibility. 

"(There) were five people in a vehicle when it was sprayed with bullets," a senior police officer said on Friday from the scene, adding that one passenger, Salim Abdi, survived, according to Agence France-Presse.

Omar's associates and some people who attended his mosque said he was the latest victim in a string of extrajudicial killings of Muslims by Kenyan security forces, an allegation denied by the police.

The shooting took place late Thursday night, just a few hundred yards from where another firebrand cleric, Aboud Rogo, was shot dead in his vehicle in August 2012 in a strikingly similar attack. Both Kenya and the United States had accused Rogo of recruiting and fundraising for Al-Shabab.

"This is no doubt a police execution, given what has happened in Nairobi," said 37-year-old Abdul Hassan Omar. He spoke to Reuters in Mombasa's rundown Majengo district, where Omar and Rogo preached.

Mombasa county police chief Robert Kitur said that the police had nothing to do with Omar's killing and that they would not allow any protests after Friday prayers to lead to unrest.

"We are warning them not to dare, because we shall deal with them," Kitur said, according to Reuters.

Kenyan police in riot gear fired tear gas to disperse crowds protesting on Friday after the killings, a witness said.

Rioters set fire to a church in the area, the witness also said.

Rogo's death last year unleashed deadly riots in Mombasa's rundown neighborhoods where he commanded a loyal support base. Anti-riot police patrolled Majengo on Friday, and many businesses remained shut.

Wire services