Assistant pastor George Karidhimba Muriki was gunned down at the Maximum Revival Ministries Church on Sunday by a suspected extremist group.
The preacher was killed before he could give the Sunday sermon.
Related killings
Muslim preacher, Mohamed Idris, 64, chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, was shot dead by gunmen shortly after leaving a mosque. He was against radicalization of youths.
Sheikh Salim Imam Marangi was shot dead outside the Bilal Mosque in Likoni after prayers. He was a vocal against radicalization of youths in Mombasa.
All radical Islamic preachers and terror suspects, Sheikh Makaburi, and Aboud Rogo were gunned down after or before Mosque services. Their supporters swore revenge.
Mwangari and Idris spoke out against extremism and cautioned Kenyan youths against joining al-Shabaab in Somalia. The killing of the 2 clerics has gagged other moderates from speaking out.
Bias of Extremists
The assassination of pastor George Karidhimba Muriki has Islamists insignia’s. It was bold and in day light. The police were in the compound and the objective was diverse.
The time chose to kill the preacher confirms that both surveillance and reconnaissance was done. Pastor George Karidhimba Muriki was not a random target, but was well chose by the attackers.
The Church compound and the police guards on the front entrance depicts strategic goals of the attackers.
This was a well planned terror attack which failed to take off since the police were already deployed on the target.
The Church compound was the core of the attack. Arguably, the attack was multifaceted.
The radical-terrorist preachers (Rogo & Makaburi) were killed after or near their Mosques. Killing the preacher inside the church compound was a revenge act. This was the core message.
The other face of the attack was the congregation. The attackers had hope of increasing causalities in the church at the Muslim-Christian neighborhood by killing dozens of the congregation and dissapearing in the densely populated slum-like dwelling whose geography and infrastructure provides cover to such criminals.
