Kenya President Vows Not to Allow Radicalization in Worship Centers

Uhuru Kenyatta - Kenya, President

Kenya's president said he would not allow places of worship to be used to radicalize young people, in the wake of a police raid on a mosque in the port of Mombasa that triggered renewed clashes with Muslim protesters on Friday.

Armed officers swooped on the Masjid Mussa mosque over the weekend, saying they had a tip-off youths were being trained there for militant attacks.

Police fired teargas and rubber bullets at youths who threw stones and looted shops on Friday, said witnesses, in the city's fourth significant outbreak of violence since the raid.

"Under no circumstance will we allow places of worship, like I said, be it a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, be it a Christian church, to be used as a place to radicalize and to threaten the lives of Kenyans," said President Uhuru Kenyatta.

He did not refer directly to the latest violence. But his comments underlined tensions in a country still reeling from an attack by Somali Islamists on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 67 people in September.

The government has vowed to break up militant networks in a bid to end attacks by Somali Islamist militants and their sympathizers bent on punishing Kenya for sending troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabab rebels.

Kenyatta also launched the latest in a series of initiatives to tighten security, vowing to raise the number of police officers and giving other services targets to improve their operations.