Police are often accused of using heavy handed tactics

Muslim Imams have described the weekend police crackdown as discriminative and oppressive, and have accused the police of using high handed tactics to further intimidate local residents.

But Kenyan police spokesman King'ori Mwangi told BBC News Online that the crackdown was meant to rid the area of petty criminals, drug dealers and illegal immigrants.

"We arrested all manner of undesirable people, ranging from illegal immigrants to illegal gamblers and prostitutes," said Mr Mwangi.

Mombasa, a popular tourist destination, has been a focus of terrorism investigations by the Kenyan, Israeli and American security agents since a car bomb destroyed an Israeli-owned Paradise beachfront hotel on 28 November 2002.

Corruption

The Secretary-General of the Mombasa-based Council of Imams, Sheikh Mohammed Dor, told BBC News Online that the operation did not achieve its intended goal and instead was a 'corrupt' exercise.

"The police arrested school children and innocent women who were only released after paying bribes of between $6 and $25," said Sheikh Dor.

He accused some of the policemen carrying out the sweeps of being drunk.

Following the attack on the Paradise hotel, in which three Israelis and at least 10 Kenyans were killed, police intensified their anti-terrorism efforts in the region, arresting a number of suspects and raiding houses in the predominantly Muslim town.

Five Kenyans have been charged with murder in connection with the bombing.

In May, Britain and the US warned their citizens to avoid travelling to Kenya, with British Airways temporarily suspending flights to the country, saying that an attack was imminent.

Police arrested two terrorism suspects on 1 August, but one killed himself and a policemen with a grenade as he was led to the town's main police station.