Fifteen people were killed and more than ten houses torched in fresh violence in Trans Nzoia district early Monday morning.
Reports from Trans Nzoia indicated that the raid occurred when an unknown number of militiamen stormed a remote village in Embakasi and torched houses.“They were armed with machetes and guns. They were knocking houses and ordering people out before they slashed them," a police officer said.
National Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the attack in Embakasi village was over land, not the country's disputed Dec. 27 presidential election, which unleashed weeks of nationwide bloodshed.
Dozens of people with assault rifles and machetes stormed a village in western Kenya early Monday, killing at least 13 people, including six children, police said. Some were burned alive in their homes.
Rabson Mbuya, whose said his wife, three children and housekeeper were killed, said he was patrolling the area as part of his job in the police reserve when the attackers came.
"I saw them knock the door of my house several times, but when there was no response," a wailing Mbuya said. "One spilled petrol on the roof before torching it. I heard my wife and children scream but there was no way I could go near and rescue them."
Mbuya said he also saw a 3-year-old boy hacked to death as he ran from his parents' house. A pregnant woman due to give birth next month was burned alive in her home, police said.
The village is in a region 300 miles northwest of Nairobi that sees frequent, bloody clashes over land.
Bernard Muli, a police chief in the area, blamed the Sabaot Land Defense Force, a militia group fighting for the redistribution of land in western Kenya.
Residents who refused to open their doors were burnt alive in their homes.
“It was horrifying. These people (militiamen) were merciless. They burnt people alive," stated another officer.
Six of them were burnt alive in their homes while three others were shot as they tried to escape from the burning houses in the 5 am attack.Another six were slashed to death with machetes.Police said they have not established the motive of the raid that has left villagers there in panic.
Area divisional Police chief Bernard Muli and District Commissioner Francis Mutie visited the scene Monday morning to coordinate a security operation to track the militiamen.
“Our officers are already on the ground coordinating a security operation to search for the killers," a senior officer in the Rift Valley Provincial Police headquarters in Nakuru said.
