Deadly shoot-out with Kenyan Satanic sect
Pastor Dale Morgan
Deadly shoot-out with Kenyan Satanic sect*
Recent grisly murders blamed on the Mungiki have shocked Kenyans
Police in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have shot and killed 21 people in
a gun battle with suspected members of the banned Mungiki sect.
Police say their officers engaged "a gang of thugs" resisting an
operation to recover firearms stolen from three policemen who were
killed on Monday.
Several weapons are said to have been recovered and some policemen injured.
Last week, the president warned Mungiki activities would no longer be
tolerated and ordered a shoot-to-kill policy.
The security forces in Kenya have spent the past three months trying to
crack down on criminal elements in the Mungiki - a sect which it is
claimed runs an extensive extortion operation and is reported to have
connections high up in Kenya politics.
The police have blamed them for the beheading of six people last month
in central Kenya.
'Resistance'
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the morning shoot-out took place in
the Mathare district of Nairobi - a run-down industrial sector.
KENYA'S SECRETIVE MUNGIKI
Mungiki followers
Banned in 2002
Thought to be ethnic Kikuyu militants
Mungiki means multitude in Kikuyu
Inspired by the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s
Claim to have more than 1m followers
Promote female circumcision and oath-taking
Believed to be linked to high-profile politicians
Control public transport routes, demanding levies
Blamed for revenge murders in the central region
Profile: Mungiki sect
He said police have cordoned off a large area of the slum reputed to
host criminal gangs in the city.
"Security officers during the operation met with resistance from a crowd
of armed people who fired at the officers leading to the shoot-out and
most of them were killed," Mr Kiraithe told the BBC News website.
Three pistols, machetes and other crude weapons were recovered from the
slain suspects and from several houses that were ransacked by the
police's feared paramilitary wing, he said.
On Monday night, three police officers were killed while on patrol on
foot in the Mathare slums. They were robbed of their AK-47 rifles.
The Mungiki are thought to be militants from Kenya's biggest ethnic
group, the Kikuyu.
Election fears
Last week, President Mwai Kibaki reacted angrily to a spate of recent
grisly murders and beheadings in the central region blamed on the Mungiki.
There is no-one who has the right to take a life and if you choose to do
that and try to hide we will get you
President Mwai Kibaki
They are said to have been revenge attacks on people who had leaked
information about their activities to the police.
"There is no-one who has the right to take a life and if you choose to
do that and try to hide we will get you," Mr Kibaki said.
The Mungiki, which means multitude in Kikuyu, claim to have more than
one million followers across the country.
Some commentators have linked them to politicians wanting to cause
unrest and fear ahead of December elections.
The sect promotes female circumcision and oath-taking and was outlawed
in 2002.
In recent years they have been battling with public transport operators
who refuse to pay them protection fees.