Kenya: Machete attack at dawn leaves 30 farmers dead
Related articles
Raiders armed with guns, machetes and spears killed 30 people –including several children – and torched their houses in Kipao village on Kenya’s coast, heightening concerns ahead of elections next March.
Nine of the raiders were also killed in what appeared to have been a revenge attack by settled Pokomo farmers against the semi-nomadic Orma farmers after a series of clashes in August in which more than 100 people were killed.
The two groups have fought over access to grazing areas, farmland and water, but human rights groups have blamed the latest violence on politicians seeking to drive away those they believe will vote for rivals in presidential and parliamentary elections.
If those charges are true, it raises fears of a repeat of the ethnic violence that rocked Kenya after the 2007 presidential election, in which more than 1,200 people were killed.
One survivor said the attackers stuck at dawn. Osman Amran, 63, spoke from a hospital bed after receiving deep cuts on both thighs. “I ran out of my house and left behind my wife and two children and told them not to leave, but the enemies reached my house, killed my family and burnt my house as I watched from where I was hiding,” he said.
Reuters
Latest in News
From the blogs
Savile, Leveson and the Olympics: The stories that made the headlines in 2012
This year has been an interesting one to say the least and we have witnessed a lot. The year the May...
“Mayan apocalypse: are there any facts behind this doomsday scenario? (No)”
An unusual example of a Headline Which Answers Its Own Question in the Guardian's US News Blog, spot...
What television programme would you watch before the end of the world?
Today could have been the end of the world as we know it… which would have been a right pain in the ...
Living with postnatal depression: ‘I felt terrified of motherhood and had no love for my baby’
Depression - I never believed in this word, especially not postnatal depression, how could anyone be...
-
'If your IQ is somewhere around 60 then you are probably a carrot' - leading member of Mensa apologises after controversial comment on BBC Breakfast
-
After the slaughter at Sandy Hook school, America's firearms debate intensifies
-
News in Pictures
-
Rage at brutal rape erupts in India
-
Chechnya: Russia closes paper after journalists laugh at Vladimir Putin
- 1 MORE guns in schools: NRA’s plan to thwart the next Lanza
- 2 It's been one year since I stopped washing my hair
- 3 Lostprophets express 'shock' at bandmate Ian Watkins' arrest on child sex charges
- 4 Chechnya: Russia closes paper after journalists laugh at Vladimir Putin
- 5 Alex Ferguson to look into small print of Cristiano Ronaldo's contract
Win flights to New Orleans
Experience everything on offer in one of America's prettiest and most hospitable cities.
Discover the majesty of El Hierro
So this is how Europe ends: with raw, magnificent beauty. By Simon Calder
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
How Cisco is nurturing British innovation
Cisco is doing all it can to support and accelerate high-tech innovation across the UK.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Comments