Abubakar Shariff Ahmed was known by his nickname Makaburi meaning “Graveyard” in SwahiliA radical Muslim cleric in Kenya, Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, has been shot dead outside the coastal city of Mombasa, police and witnesses say.
His corpse lay on a road with what appeared to be wounds to the head and body, Reuters news agency reports.
Mr Shariff, known as Makaburi, had been listed by the UN as a recruiter for the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group. He is the third Muslim cleric to be killed in Mombasa since 2012.
Riots have broken out in parts of the city as news of the cleric’s killing spread, reports the BBC’s Muliro Telewa from the capital, Nairobi.
The UN Security Council had sanctioned him as “a leading facilitator and recruiter of young Kenyan Muslims for violent militant activity in Somalia”.
He always denied recruiting for al-Shabab, or calling on his followers to travel to Somalia to fight.In October, Muslim cleric Ibrahim “Rogo” Omar was gunned down in Mombasa.His killing was similar to that of cleric, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, who was killed in August 2012.
Mr Mohammed had also been accused of recruiting and fundraising for al-Shabab.Their killings sparked riots in Mombasa.
Supporters of the clerics accused members of the security forces of killing them – allegations denied by government officials.There have been no arrests over the killings.