Kenya crackdown on militants troubles Muslims

A police officer holds his position outside the Masjid Mussa mosque during an operation to to suppress demonstrators reacting to the killing of an Islamic cleric at Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa October 4, 2013. REUTERS/Joseph Okanga

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan police crackdown on Islamists is fuelling Muslim resentment and moderate preachers say it undermines their efforts to counter recruiting by al Qaeda militants with links across the border in Somalia.

Smashing Islamist recruitment networks among its Muslim minority has become a priority for Kenya, however, as it tries to end attacks by Somali militants bent on punishing it for sending troops over the frontier to fight al Shabaab rebels.