Kenyan
police carried out new raids at mosques in Mombasa on Wednesday,
finding explosives and arresting more than 100 people on suspicion they
were undergoing militant training, Voice of America reports.
Raids on the Swafaa and Minaa mosques
found grenades, ammunition and petrol bombs. Four mosques have been
searched since Monday in the port city, security officers said.
Local police said 109 people were arrested on Wednesday, adding to more than 250 arrested on Monday.
Kenya is looking to break up Islamist
militant networks it blames for a series of attacks in the capital,
Nairobi, as well as along its Indian Ocean coastline. Police say many of
the recruits are inspired by al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked Somali
group.
“These operations have started and will
go on until all places of worship especially mosques in Mombasa are set
free from terrorist and criminal elements,” Robert Kitur, Mombasa County
police commander, told Reuters.
“We have been gathering intelligence for a long period, and it was time to act,” Kitur said.
“There was obviously a lot more than just
prayers and sermons taking place,” local police chief Richard Ngatia,
speaking with the French news agency AFP, said of the targeted mosques.
Police raided two mosques on Monday,
seizing weapons and literature that they said was evidence of militant
activity. The following day, a group of youths with machetes and knives
killed three people in what officials called revenge attacks.
Ngatia said investigators on Wednesday
found three machetes at Mombasa’s Mina mosque and a grenade, while two
10-liter petrol bombs and a bomb detonator were uncovered at Swafaa
mosque.
“The mosques have been radicalizing
youth, training and encouraging them in jihadism,” Ngatia said, adding
police had found literature about jihadism in the mosques.
Police have arrested 376 people so far
during the raids, which started on Sunday, but 91 were subsequently
released for lack of evidence. Prosecutors said 158 would be charged
with being members of al-Shabab.
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