ZANZIBAR, Tanzania — Suspected Islamic extremists on Christmas Day shot a Roman Catholic priest on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, seriously wounding him, area church leaders said.
Two assailants on a motorcycle shot Ambrose Mkenda through his cheeks and in the shoulder before 8 p.m. as he arrived home in Tomondo, about four miles from Zanzibar City.
Christian leaders suspected members of the separatist group Uamsho or “Awakening,” the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation.
Lucian Mgaywa, general secretary of the Church of God in Zanzibar, said, “Just as he was arriving at the gate, the suspected group shot him from his right through his cheeks, and he became unconscious.”
Uamsho distributed leaflets threatening church leaders in Zanzibar in October, when authorities arrested group Commander Sheikh Farid Hadi Ahmed and six others following several attacks on church buildings on Zanzibar and the mainland.
“The threats issued by Uamsho read, ‘We now want the heads of all the church pastors in Zanzibar,’” Mgayway said. “Such utterances caused a lot of panic, and some of the pastors feared for their lives and fled out of Zanzibar to the mainland of Tanzania.”
Police reportedly said the assailants did not take anything from the unconscious priest.
Obeid Fabian, head of the Zanzibar Pastors’ Fellowship, said the suspects have not been arrested and that the Uamsho threats leave little doubt about who shot the priest.
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