Stench of death hangs over Tana mass graves

Forensic experts, pathologists and crime scene analysts arrived in troubled Tana Delta area on Wednesday in readiness for excavation of two sites thought to be secret mass graves.

Head of the operation at the General Service Unit Anthony Kamitu said the exhumation will be carried out on Thursday. Read (Court orders Tana mass graves opened)

A ring of armed GSU officers was thrown around the sites with a senior officer saying they will stand guard throughout the night.

The suspected mass graves are located inside a forest about 500 metres from Ozi village, the scene of Sunday’s incident in which houses were razed and villagers have been pointing an accusing finger at GSU officers.

About 300 officers returned to the village on the bank of River Tana on Wednesday.

The air around the site was heavy with the stench of decomposing bodies.

The two graves are marked by freshly dug earth and are covered by twigs pulled down from the trees.

Several trees have been felled using axes to further camouflage the scene.

There is also a well-trodden footpath leading from the river bank to the site of the grave, meaning that it is an area that is visited often.

“We are not certain of the number of bodies buried there but we have credible information from some of the suspects. They helped our officers to trace the location. The place will remain secured until pathologists arrive tomorrow (today) to oversee the exhumation and identification of the bodies,” said Mr Kamitu.

On Tuesday police moved to the Garsen law courts and obtained an order authorising the exhumation.

Of interest will be the identity of the victims, the manner of their death and who killed them.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said “all the required personnel including grave diggers, scene of crime analysts and pathologists have been assembled ready for action tomorrow”.

The GSU arrived in the village at around 5 pm in a convoy of seven lorries and two Land-Rovers and immediately secured the village.

Earlier in the day, Daily Nation journalists at the scene talked to the villagers, who had emerged from hiding.

But the villagers were cagey and denied any knowledge of a mass grave until the police arrived.

They took journalists to an old cemetery in the village in a bid to convince journalists that there were no freshly dug graves.

Police suspect that those buried in Ozi were some of the raiders killed during the attack on Kilelengwani village in which 38 people were killed, including nine police officers, last week.

It is believed that the raiders carried the bodies of their dead accomplices and secretly buried them there.

Mr Kamitu said no burial permits have been sought by villagers since the attacks began.

The village near the suspected mass graves is inhabited by the Pokomo and police suspect that the raiders might have come from this area.

The villagers denied involvement in the attack and claimed that those arrested and charged in court are innocent people, identifying two of them as teachers, two assistant chiefs, a Standard Eight candidate and a Form Three student.

The suspects were allowed to address the court, during which they complained about being roughed up by GSU officers who arrested them.

The suspects will return to court on Monday. They were remanded at Gamba police station.

They also said they had been held incommunicado and asked the court to direct that their relatives be allowed to visit them.

The court session was conducted amid tight security provided by the GSU as well as regular and Administration Police units.

The government last week deployed about 1,800 paramilitary officers to the area to quell the violence.

However, fresh violence rocked the region, in Garsen constituency, on Sunday night and early Monday during which 35 houses were torched.