Four killed in new Tana raids
What you need to know:
- The killings brought the death toll in the month-long retaliatory attacks involving the Orma and Pokomo to 109.
- On Tuesday, outnumbered police officers watched helplessly as the attackers went about their grisly mission.
- According to eyewitnesses, the raiders slit the throat of an elderly man with a machete before shooting his son and two other men.
Four more people were killed in Tana River a day after President Kibaki ordered a curfew and deployment of more security personnel.
The killings brought the death toll in the month-long retaliatory attacks involving the Orma and Pokomo to 109. Scores of houses were burned down in five villages during Tuesday’s attacks.
This brings the number of the people killed in the past two days to 42 after 38 people, including nine police officers, were murdered by raiders on Monday. (READ: 8 policemen killed as Tana death toll rises to 40)
The attackers, armed with AK-47 rifles, machetes and arrows, raided Anasa, Mbelezoni, Shirikisho, Nduru and Semikaro villages in Tana Delta and burnt down more than 100 houses.
The raiders, said to be from the Orma community, were on a revenge mission after Pokomo attackers killed 38 people at Kilelengwani village.
On Tuesday, outnumbered police officers watched helplessly as the attackers went about their grisly mission.
The officers, who are camped at Semikaro dispensary, were unable to repel the raid, which started at 6 am and lasted more than two hours as the attackers moved from one village to the next torching and looting houses. (SEE IN PICTURES: Tana clashes)
As the villages were burning, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere and a Coast Province security team including area police boss Aggrey Adoli, his CID counterpart Ambrose Munyasia and Provincial Commissioner Samuel Kilele arrived in a helicopter.
According to eyewitnesses, the raiders slit the throat of an elderly man with a machete before shooting his son and two other men.
Mr Iteere said the government would recover all firearms in the wrong hands. He said Kenya Police Reservists in Tana Delta would be disarmed in efforts to contain the clashes.
Acting Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia and CID boss Muhoro Ndegwa also visited Kilelengwani village on a fact finding mission on Tuesday.
Lack of motivation
As situation worsened, hundreds of families in the villages that were razed on Tuesday morning have fled. A police officer said lack of motivation had contributed to increasing cases of insecurity the area.
“Since we came here we have not received the money we are entitled to. We only have one uniform and our seniors have neglected us,” said the officer.
Responding to the complaints, Mr Iteere held a meeting with the officers and promised to provide them with their allowances and food supplies.
