(By Bonny Apunyu)

In what brings to three, the total number of Muslim leaders to be killed in just less than six months, Sheikh Abdulrashid Wafula, the Imam of Bilal Mosque in Mbale Town has been gunned down, Daily Monitor reported Friday.

According to reports, Sheikh Abdulrashid Wafula was shot on Thursday night at around 9pm as he traveled back home. According to family sources the Sheikh was shot five times in the chest. He was reportedly being rushed to hospital but he died along the way.

A Ugandan Police spokesman, Mr Fred Enanga, reportedly said four people, including the deceased’s brother have been arrested as investigations continue. Sheikh Wafula is the third Muslim leader to be killed in just less than six months. On December 28, last year, Sheikh Mustafa Bahiga was shot dead at the Bwebajja Mosque on Entebbe road. Sheikh Bahiga was also shot five times; three bullets in the left limb, one on the head and another in the stomach as he was going for Ishae Prayer.

Sheikh Bahiga’s death came barely two days after Sheikh Dr Abdul Kadir Muwaya; the Shiite leader was gunned down at his home in Mayuge district. Daily Monitor says Sheikh Bahiga, Dr Muwaya and Sheikh Wafula‘s death leaves a number of questions unanswered including the circumstances involving the killing of Sheikh Abdul Karim Ssentamu and Hajj Abubaker Kiweewa who were in 2012 gunned down by unknown assailants in different locations in the city.

Uganda’s inspector general of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura  reportedly linked the killings of the Muslim clerics to the ADF rebel activities and that he was determined to hunt  the killers down.