MOMBASA: Kenyan authorities are to investigate journalists and sources involved in an Al Jazeera documentary alleging that radical Muslim preachers were killed by police “death squads.”

At least three preachers accused of espousing militant ideas have been shot dead in Kenya by unidentified assailants in the past two years. The state has repeatedly denied any involvement, despite accusations by Muslim activists and protesters. But Al Jazeera’s program, aired on Monday, included interviews with unnamed security sources who said they had carried out the killings as members of such squads.

The Interior Ministry said the government had “instructed relevant authorities to begin investigations with a view to bringing charges against those involved in Al Jazeera documentary.”

It said the documentary was “deliberately skewed to support and empathize with terrorists and their sympathizers.”

Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said the authorities were aware that visiting journalists, rather than Nairobi-based staff, had produced the piece. He said those involved might “not be very welcome” if they ever wanted to return to Kenya. A spokesman for Al Jazeera, which is based in and funded by Qatar, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Two police sources told Reuters that at least one of the three unnamed security sources who appeared as silhouettes in Al Jazeera’s program, entitled “Inside Kenya’s Death Squads,” had already been identified by the authorities.