Gunmen in Kenya's port city of Mombasa have shot dead an influential moderate Muslim preacher who was a vocal opponent of the radical preachings of Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab insurgents, police said.
Mohamed Idris, 64, chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, was "shot only once in the stomach" shortly before dawn as he headed to prayers at a mosque, Mombasa police chief Robert Kitur said on Tuesday.
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.
Idris was chairman of a key mosque that was recently taken over radical youths, and according to press reports he had been accused of helping the authorities. The preacher had said he feared for his life.
"There was a power struggle at Sakina mosque - where he was supposed to be installed as a sheikh - between his supporters and another radical group opposed to him," Kitur added.
Last month several Western nations urged their nationals to avoid all but essential travel to the coastal city of Mombasa, the scene of a string of recent bombings and shootings.
Idris's death is the latest killing of Muslim leaders in the city, although previous shootings have been of radical leaders accused of backing al-Shabab.
Kenya has been hit by a series of attacks since invading Somalia in 2011 to battle al-Shabab, later joining an African Union force battling the Islamists.
Mombasa, Kenya's second city and an important tourist hub for the country's palm-fringed Indian Ocean coastline, has also seen a series of attacks on churches as well as power struggles between rival Muslim factions.
