Hooded gunmen kill two patrons, injure others at Mombasa bar

Onlookers outside Sega Pub in Mombasa’s Majengo where gunmen shot dead two people in the bar Tuesday morning. [PHOTO: KELVIN KARANI/STANDARD]

Mombasa, Kenya: Security officials in Mombasa are under intense pressure to explain and combat an upsurge in violence following the shooting of two people at a bar in Majengo Tuesday morning.

A group of hooded attackers killed two patrons and seriously injured two bar tenders identified as Victoria Achieng, 24, and 27-year-old Caroline Muthoni.

Mombasa OCPD Geofrey Mayiek said the assailants were robbers interested in money, adding that only two men were involved in the attacks. No one has been arrested over the latest incident.

Eyewitnesses say hooded gunmen stormed Sega Pub situated in the densely populated Majengo along the busy Jomo Kenyatta Avenue.

They then ordered patrons to lie down as they went for the bar’s cashier and demanded the day’s collection.

“They struck at around 3am when we were just about to close business and brandished guns. They shot severally in the air and in the process hit two of our colleagues and injured them,” said Rachel Mueni, the pub’s cashier.

She said she gave in to the attackers’ demand and handed over the entire collection.

Overturned furniture and blood stains were evidence of what had transpired during the incident.

A night guard at the pub, 35-year-old Julius Musyoka, attempted to wrestle one of the intruders when they stormed the premises but on sighting a pistol gave in and lay down.

Musyoka, who escaped unhurt, had held the hand of one of the killers who were reported to be four in number during a brief confrontation.

But the police boss told The Standard “two men armed with pistols entered the said pub and demanded the day’s cash collection and in the ensuing circumstances two people who resisted were shot and are undergoing treatment”.

On their way out with their loot, according to witnesses, the attackers shot and killed a bar patron only identified as Ken Rasta and a tuk tuk operator who had arrived at the pub unaware of the robbery. Their bodies were taken to the Coast Provincial General Hospital (CPGH) mortuary.

At the CPGH emergency ward, Achieng’s right leg was heavily bandaged as a bullet was lodged in her calf while Muthoni had a bullet around her waistline.

Last evening, security chiefs were put to task to explain the whereabouts of eight suspects Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa and County police commander Robert Kitur claimed were arrested following Sunday’s killings in a slum in Likoni, during a meeting with top security officials.

“The police have lost the war against violent crime and they ought to explain what is happening in Mombasa,” said Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid.

Khalid said Kitur and Marwa should explain where the suspects they alleged to have arrested after Sunday’s incident were detained after none was brought to court yesterday and no family had come forward over a missing kin.

On Sunday, four people, including Diana Achieng, 11, were shot dead by gun-totting men in Likoni, who also shot 12 other men and women.