Muslim youths have been involved in running battles with the police since Monday after the murder of radical² preacher Aboud Rogo Mohammed.

 

Mr Rogo, who the US accused of backing Islamist fighters in Somalia, was killed in a drive-by shooting. 

 

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga has appealed for calm, saying the country should avoid an "inter-religious war". 

 

"Let's act with restraint as law enforcement agencies get to the root of the matter," he said. 

 

"We urge Muslims and Christians³ not to fight." 

 

 

One person was killed and churches were attacked in clashes on Monday. 

 

A senior police intelligence officer in Mombasa, Benedict Kigen, announced the grenade attack. 

 

"They have attacked our officers... Two people are dead, one of them is an officer, the other is a civilian," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying. 

 

Sixteen policemen were also wounded in the attack, according to the Red Cross.

 

Earlier, Ben Lawrence of Human Rights Watch told the BBC that he saw running battles between the police and protesters. 

 

"I saw at the end of the street... billowing smoke and running battles between police and rioters. It came towards us, down the side street where I was located. People shut up their shops and ran in the opposite direction," he said. 

 

"There's been shops set on fire, looting, police trying to control the situation with tear gas but so far apparently⁵ failing." 

 

Hotel owners said the violence had badly affected⁶ Mombasa's tourism industry, the backbone⁷ of the city's economy, Reuters added.

 

"It's tricky⁸ to even take them [tourists] or pick them from the airport because the main highway from the airport is the epicentre of the chaos," said Mohammed Hersi, who runs the Whitesands Hotel. 

 

Somalia's militant⁹ Islamist group al-Shabab condemned¹⁰ Mr Rogo's killing and said Muslims in Kenya should boycott¹¹ next year's presidential election. 

 

"Muslims must take the matter into their own hands, stand united against the Kuffar [non-Muslims] and take all necessary measures to protect their religion, their honour, their property and their lives from the enemies of Islam," it said in a statement. 

 

However, police spokesman Charles Owino said al-Shabab killed the cleric in an attempt "to galvanise（激励） support among the youth", the AFP news agency reports. 

 

"Rogo's murder was a well-planned attack by members of al-Shabab to gain sympathisers.... the al-Shabab have failed to get followers," he said.

 

Some of the rioters accused the authorities of being behind Mr Rogo's shooting, saying he had been the victim of a "targeted assassination".

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