KENYA:Kenyan police killed 21 suspected members of a criminal sect in a Nairobi slum yesterday, during the latest exchange in an increasingly bloody gangland war.
Police with dogs and assault rifles stormed Nairobi's Mathare slum, a stronghold of the outlawed Mungiki gang, late on Monday night. They arrested seven suspects.
The sect draws inspiration from the Mau Mau uprising against British rule in the 1950s. Its adherents are reputed to drink the blood of victims at initiation ceremonies. In recent weeks they have been responsible for the grisly murders of half a dozen informers and the beheading of minibus drivers who refuse to pay a Mungiki "tax".
Analysts say they are flexing their muscles in the run-up to presidential elections later this year.
Last week the government ordered a shoot-to-kill policy. Yesterday's police action followed a deadly attack on four policemen patrolling Mathare.
"Following the killing of two policemen, we launched an operation to recover the firearms that were stolen, and 21 people who were resisting arrest were killed overnight," said Eric Kiraithe, a spokesman for the Kenyan police.
"They are Mungiki members who started resisting arrest."
Three handguns, machetes and other crude weapons were recovered, he added.
The Mungiki leadership claims two million supporters, drawn mostly from young members of the Kikuyu tribe, although the real figure may be only a few thousand. The movement was banned in 2002 following slum violence, and is notorious for criminal activities including extortion, murder and harassment of women.
Mungiki followers reign supreme within city slums, notably Mathare in the east of the capital. There they provide illegal water and electricity connections to hundreds of makeshift shacks. Residents of the slums must pay a levy to access communal toilets and to ensure security at night.
One Mathare resident, who declined to be identified, said police had stormed through houses looking for suspects.
"There was a lot of mayhem last night. Young men were rounded up and beaten senseless by policemen," he told Reuters.
Many Kenyans believe the movement's leadership is protected by corrupt politicians and police officers. Authorities are currently investigating four former members of parliament accused of links to Mungiki.
Ken Ouku, a sociologist at Nairobi University, said the attacks had accelerated in the run-up to elections."We don't know what they want, but it seems as if they are preparing themselves so that they appear to be a powerful force as we approach elections."