Kenya - Riots Shake Mombasa After Muslim Cleric Slain

Kenyan anti-riot police clashed with stone-throwing youths in the port city of Mombasa on Tuesday in a second day of violence ignited by the killing of a Muslim cleric accused by the United States of helping Islamist militants in Somalia.

Police fired tear gas and warning shots as youths barricaded streets with burning tyres in the predominantly Muslim Majengo neighbourhood. Mobs marauded around Mombasa's city centre, taunting police who arrested some of the protesters.

Shopkeepers reported looting in some areas of Kenya's second biggest city, a tourist hub with a major Indian Ocean port.

"People are breaking into our shops and looting our property and police are doing nothing," said Francis Mutua, 33, a kiosk owner who said he and his colleagues had beaten up offender.

Shopkeeper Kassim Ali also complained about police as they cleared a smouldering roadblock nearby. "These people, the police, are joking. They are taking this thing lightly, but the way I see it, it will not be good," he said.

One person was killed in riots on Monday when protesters torched some churches, stoking fears that the unrest may become more sectarian in a city where grenade attacks blamed on Somali militants and their sympathisers have already strained Muslim-Christian relations. Mombasa has a big Muslim minority.

Police and Muslim leaders had described the church burnings as impulsive, not premeditated. On Tuesday the gangs of youths appeared to focus their anger more on the police.

Church leaders scrapped plans for a peaceful march for fear it might incite further clashes in a country where overall relations with minority Muslims have been relatively good.

The unrest began after gunmen killed Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo on Monday, spraying his car with bullets in an attack many Muslims in Mombasa blamed on the police, who denied involvement.