- Title: KENYA: 10 killed in revenge attack in Kenya's Tana Delta region
- Date: 10th January 2013
- Summary: TANA DELTA, KENYA (JANUARY 10, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HOUSES BURNING VARIOUS OF TANA RESIDENTS LOOKING AT A DEAD BODY BLOOD ON THE GROUND VILLAGERS HOLDING A WOMAN WHOSE RELATIVE WAS KILLED (SOUNDBITE) (Swahili) TANA RESIDENT, MARTIN POZI, SAYING: "They were heavily armed when they attacked us. We just heard gunfire and they hunted people down and killed them as if th
- Embargoed: 25th January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA9EAGMOM5IY8KCFU24HPCWNZU6
- Story Text: Ten people were killed on Thursday (January 10) when armed raiders torched more than a dozen houses in Kenya's restive Tana River area in the latest attack in fighting police say is linked to upcoming elections.
The renewed clashes are ostensibly part of a long-standing grazing land and water dispute between two local tribes. However, on Wednesday (January 9) police said several politicians, business people and local leaders had been and were still funding the attacks in which 100 people were killed in August.
Martin Pozi, a villager at Kibisu village described piercing cries as the assailants surrounded homesteads and set them alight in the pre-dawn raid.
"They were heavily armed when they attacked us. We just heard gunfire and they hunted people down and killed them as if they were elephants. Our people do not have weapons, we do not have guns and we can not protect ourselves. I want to tell the government that we have lost faith in it," said Pozi.
The semi-nomadic Orma pastoralists struck the Pokomo village of Kibisu a day after Pokomo farmers wielding guns, machetes and arrows killed nine Ormas in a nearby settlement.
Five children and two women were among the dead on Thursday.
"We have lost unfortunately 10 people among them five children and some of the bodies were burnt inside their houses and they were actually burnt beyond recognition," said Michael Aliyapei, a Red Cross Volunteer.
Human rights groups blame the surge in violence in the Tana River county on politicians bent on driving away parts of the population they think will vote for their rivals in general elections on March 4.
Political loyalties in Kenya are typically forged along ethnic lines and not ideology.
Outgoing President Mwai Kibaki deployed more than 1,000 security personnel to the area in September in an effort to stem the bloodshed.
The renewed clashes have raised questions over their ability to stamp out mounting insecurity as the region's biggest economy heads towards its first elections since a contested poll in 2007 unleashed nationwide fighting.
Ronald Opili, the operation commander of the General service unit tasked with restoring order in the restive region said his troops had leads on the attackers and the situation will be controlled.
"On arriving at the scene, we decided to dispatch a contingent of two platoons that I came with who are still pursuing the raiders, they are still deep in the forest trying to track the assailants," said Opili.
More than 450 Kenyans have been killed in violent clashes across the country since the beginning of 2012, the United Nations said.
An influx of weapons across Kenya's borders, in particular from war-ravaged Somalia, has intensified the ferocity of attacks between rival communities.
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