REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NAIROBI - The charismatic Muslim leader on Kenya's coast was certain that he would be killed. Abubakar Shariff Ahmed — known as Makaburi — told an Associated Press reporter in October that "I'm living on borrowed time." On Monday night, his premonition came true.
Before the interview with AP, two Muslim leaders of what authorities say is a radical Mombasa mosque had already been killed by unknown gunmen. Rights activists blamed government death squads.
Sitting under a cloth with a hand-painted sword on it and a religious text in Arabic, Makaburi said that whoever had ordered his two friends killed would also order his death. Makaburi, who was accused of links with Somali militants, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen Monday night in Mombasa.