20 killed or Beheaded in Nairobi night of violence*

Associated Press in Nairobi
Saturday June 23, 2007
The Guardian

In a night of bloodshed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi at least 20 people
were killed, including two who had been beheaded, police said yesterday.

Some of the deaths could be linked to a banned sect that has been
terrorising the capital, they said.

Three people, including the two who were beheaded, were found dead in
Banana Hill on the outskirts of Nairobi, where police have been cracking
down on the banned Mungiki sect, which is accused of a series of beheadings.

Police also shot eight people who were trying to rob a warehouse in the
industrial area of Nairobi. Another gun battle in an eastern
neighbourhood of the capital saw six people die. A grenade had been
hurled into a nearby restaurant but people had fled because of the
gunfire. Elsewhere in the area, three others were killed by gunmen,
police said.

Kiplimo Rugut, the provincial commissioner of Central Province, said
Mungiki was suspected in some of the overnight killings as violence had
broken out after a founding member of the sect, Maina Njenga, was
sentenced to five years in prison on gun and drug charges on Thursday.

The sect claims to have thousands of followers all from Kenya's largest
tribe, the Kikuyu. The sect is religious but in recent years has been
linked more with criminal activities including murder, political
violence and extortion.

The group is suspected of being involved in the deaths of at least 20
people in the past three months, including 12 found mutilated or
beheaded since May. The bloodshed has raised fears that Mungiki members
are out to disrupt elections in December, when President Mwai Kibaki
will seek a second term.

The group was outlawed in 2002 after at least 20 people were killed in
fighting between it and another gang.