52 people die in Kenya clashes

by Staff reporter

2012 August 23 05:12:52 | 1739 Views

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NAIROBI, Kenya - As many as 52 people, most of them women and children, were killed Wednesday in a coastal area of Kenya in attacks involving two rival communities, officials said.

The clashes erupted when an armed militia from the Pokomo ethnic group raided homes belonging to the Orma community, officials said, with the attackers slashing residents to death in a village in the Tana River district, then setting their houses on fire.

Danson Mungatana, the local member of Parliament, said 48 people were killed in the fighting.

"This conflict has been simmering since last week," he said, citing an increase in acts of lawlessness in the area. He said the killings were revenge attacks after a string of cattle raids.

Residents said the fighting stemmed from a confrontation over land and resources. The Pokomo practice subsistence farming while the Orma are cattle herders.

The death toll varied, with the Kenya Red Cross saying its team had counted 52 bodies at the scene, while a Kenyan police spokesman put the figure of those killed at 40.

Clashes over cattle are common in this part of Africa. But the death toll â€” and the number of women and children killed â€” surprised many Kenyans, who are still grappling with memories of the 2007 postelection violence that consumed much of the nation, leaving over 1,000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

Source: NYTimes