NAIROBI (Reuters) – A German female tourist was killed in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa on Thursday in the same area where a Russian visitor was murdered earlier in July by a criminal gang, police sources said.
Kenya’s coast has been the scene of a series of bombings and shootings by militants and gunmen that have left dozens of Kenyans dead in recent months. Some Western nations have warned against travel to Mombasa because of the violence.
“A female tourist was shot in Kibokoni area,” Robert Sicharani, head of Tourist Police Unit in Kenya’s Coast region, told Reuters, adding that the case was being investigated. “She was confirmed dead at the hospital,” he said.
He did not give details about the woman’s identity but a police source, who asked not to be named, said she was a 28-year-old German and that she had not been robbed. The source said her Ugandan male companion was injured in the attack.
A Russian woman was killed by a gang which had robbed her companions earlier in July in the same area, which lies near Mombasa’s historic Fort Jesus.
(Reporting by Joseph Akwiri; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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Russian tourist shot dead in Mombasa
By Willis Oketch
Updated Sunday, July 6th 2014 at 20:05 GMT +3
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Mombasa, Kenya: A Russian tourist was yesterday shot dead by gunmen who escaped in a waiting car at Mombasa’s Old Town.
Thirty-year-old Maria Tatyana was murdered about five metres from the Shia Sheri Mosque and an abandoned building in the historic town at around 10am as she was being shown around by tour guides.
Eyewitnesses told The Standard the three attackers escaped in a car towards Mombasa town centre after one opened fire on the Russian and her two friends, against police claims that the assailants fled on foot.
The tourist who reportedly spoke English was shot once in the forehead along Kitui Street when she declined to surrender her belongings.
This, police claim, has been disputed by eyewitnesses who said nothing was stolen or robbed from the Russian national who was staying at a hotel in the Kenyan south coast.
Mombasa County Deputy Police Commander Sevelino Kubai confirmed the incident, saying officers are investigating the crime.
“We are treating the killing as a normal robbery with violence because one of the thugs shot this tourist when she tried to fight back when the gang struck,” said Kubai.
He said the tourist, who was killed in front of Shia Sheri Mosque, died at Mombasa Hospital while undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit.
Although few Russians visit Kenya and its coast, Maria’s murder could strike a fresh blow against tourism.
You burn the coal you pay the toll. She learned the hard way.
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