14 more killed in latest round of post-poll attacks
Fourteen people were killed in various parts of the country in fighting linked to the disputed presidential election result. The killings occurred in Nairobi, Kipkelion, Molo and Trans Nzoia. Five people were shot dead when armed raiders struck at a village in Trans Nzoia East District yesterday. The raiders, believed to members of the Sabaot Land Defence Forces, struck at Salama Village in Endebess Division, killed the five and set ablaze 10 houses. Local people told the Nation that the attackers were dressed in police jungle and Ugandan military uniform.
The bodies of the two men and three women were taken to Kitale District Hospital mortuary. One person was injured and was admitted to the hospital. Kitale police boss Bernard Mulli said a team of General Service Unit personnel had been dispatched to the area. According to police, the attack occurred at around 5am and more than 300 people living around the area had fled from their homes. Most of them are camping at Kimondo while others have fled towards Endebess.
The more than 300 pupils of Salama primary school have not reported back because many have fled. Earlier, area district commissioner Seif Matata visited the area and said more security officers had been stationed on the boarder with Mt Eldon District, from where he said the attackers had come. Three kilometres from the scene of the attack, another group burned a lorry at Cheptarakat Village and injured the driver.
The lorry had come to help transport the displaced people. The driver was rescued by good Samaritans and lost more than Sh20,000. Six people were killed and more than 20 others injured in political violence over the weekend in Molo and Kuresoi constituencies. The dead included a man and his two sons, who were attacked by a gang of youths at Gacharage area of Kuresoi constituency.
The two brothers had gone to evacuate their father at Mawingu farm and were attacked when they were travelling back to Molo. The elderly man was locked in the car they were travelling in and the vehicle set ablaze. His sons were hacked to death. Two other people were hacked to death by a mob at Chibonde area in Elburgon Division while another was shot with an arrow at Moto farm near Molo Town.
Several people were injured when they were attacked by mobs in Njokerio area near Egerton University and in Nyakiambi and Chibonde in Elburgon. Several houses were burnt. Attackers who had targeted Sachagwan and Ndeffo areas were repulsed. Seventeen people who were injured in the attacks were yesterday undergoing treatment at Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital.
Some 1,000 people displaced from Njokerio sought refuge at Egerton University. A senior university administrator said most of the victims were employees of the institution. The university administration has offered accommodation to some in unoccupied staff houses.
Tension was high in Njoro township. Businesses remained closed for the better part of the day as traders expressed fears that the violence at Njokerio would spread there. In Nairobi two people were hacked to death on Sunday night as gangs clashed in Nairobi’s Huruma and Mathare estates. The latest victim’s body was collected near Outer Ring Road yesterday at dawn. Three other people had been killed during the day, but the fighting had continued after dusk even as riot police used tear gas canisters to disperse the gangs.
Nine other people were taken to hospital with deep cuts. Other attacks occurred at matatu termini in Mathare North area and in the slums at Huruma. The fighting was sparked by a group of residents and house owners who attempted to reclaim their homes which had been taken over by intruders at the onset of the skirmishes three weeks ago.
Several people had also started vacating their houses in Kosovo section of the Mathare slums after another gang threatened to burn their houses. Sections of the estates had been sealed off by the gangs. In Londiani Town in Kipkelion, Kericho District, a woman was hacked to death and 12 houses were yesterday morning burnt by marauding raiders. Local district commissioner Aden Halake said more security personnel had been sent to the area. An eye witness said five groups of youths armed with bows and arrows struck at 1am. Residents fled to the police station.
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