Heavily armed militants were reportedly seen this morning going through people’s contacts, messages and phone memories looking for music and other contents stored in their mobile phones.

Locals who spoke to Sunatimes on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals alleged that militants physically assaulted people whose mobile phones were found containing music. Al-Shabaab considers music as evil and against the teachings of Islam.

Tension is said to be high in the town following the mobile search operation. Locals say they could not tell exactly what the militants are looking for and what prompted them to search people’s phone content.