After the Westgate mall jihad mass murder attack, Kenyan police are not inclined to buy the line that jihad is an interior spiritual struggle. Smoothly crafted propaganda such as that pictured above is harder to sell amid the carnage.
“Police on high alert as youths plan ‘jihad’ meeting,” by Ishaq Jumbe for Standard Digital News, January 30:
Mombasa, Kenya: A radical Muslim group is planning to hold a convention on teachings on jihad at the controversial Musa Mosque in Mombasa this Sunday.
The move has sparked fears of renewed clashes with security forces and moderate Muslims.
Authorities in Mombasa said yesterday that they were aware of the planned meeting and would not allow it to take place.
Police said the planners of the jihad convention seek to spark a new wave of violence and mosque takeovers similar to what happened late last year.
Leaflets were distributed in Mombasa yesterday inviting youths to attend the convention aimed at reviving the jihadist movement in the region.
Provincial Administration officials and police yesterday asserted that they would not allow the meeting to take place given several security alerts that have been issued in the past one week.
“We are aware of the planned meeting but there is no way we can allow such a meeting to take place,” Nelson Marwa, the county commissioner, told The Standard.
The posters pinned up in several public areas around the town by unknown people promise participants to address, among other issues, Ahkamul Jihad (laws pertaining to jihad), history of nifaq (hypocrisy) in jihad and rites of a shaheed (martyr).
Marwa revealed that security apparatus was fully prepared to deal with the threat and that they were narrowing down on the convenors of the meeting. “They should get necessary clearance from the police first,” Marwa said.