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27 killed in police revenge during search for Mungiki members
A truck driver, Mr Zacharia Ndirangu, had to grab his five-year-old grandson and dive to his bedroom when the first gunshots shattered the calm of Kosovo village in the sprawling Mathare slums.
That was followed by a power black out, two hours of silence, then hell broke loose.
More gunshots, screams and pleas for mercy could be heard.
And when it dawned, four policemen and 27 civilians lay dead, while several other slum dwellers were injured.
Kosovo is the home to Mungiki adherents who control the lucrative Mathare-Huruma-Dandora Matatu route.
More than 100 police officers, angry at the brutal murder of two of their colleagues allegedly by Mungiki adherents, had stormed the village at about 11pm on Monday.
Ruthlessly beaten
Armed with guns, batons and whips, residents said they broke doors and dragged them out of their bedrooms.
They arrested anyone found walking in the slum and shot those they suspected to be members of the sect.
“Ziko wapi bunduki?” (Where are the guns), Joseph Kamau, a resident, remembers them asking his neighbour, who survived with a broken leg.
“It all started at a bout 8.30pm when we heard that two police officers on patrol at Kosovo were shot dead,” said Ndirangu, who was seriously injured, together with his wife, Hellen.
“We thought it was all over until 3am when I heard a loud knock on my door. They told me they were police officers hunting for Mungiki members, so I opened. They beat me with gun buts and dragged me and my wife out of bed, beating us badly,” he added.
The Standard team found Ndirangu and his wife, both aged 42, nursing serious wounds on their beds.
His neighbour, Mr Francis Kioko, escaped the attacks after the police officers looked at his national identity card.
“They attacked my neighbours with fury, accusing them of harbouring guns and Mungiki supporters,” said Kioko.
Another victim, Mr Peter Njenga, said the officers injured both his legs. His wife, Winnie, also suffered hip and hand injuries.
“About five police officers burst into my house and started beating us. They claimed we were hiding guns and demanded that we show them our identity cards. They also asked for money,” said Njenga, a middle-aged father of three.
Although Njenga knew police would conduct a swoop, he said he did not expect them to beat innocent people.
At the neighbouring Mlango Kubwa village, the body of a man, apparently shot by police, lay on top of a building 12 hours after the shooting.
Residents said the man, clad in brown trousers and a gray shirt, but barefoot, was most likely shot as he took refuge at the roof of a three-storey building. “He is my neighbour but I don’t know his name. He came here recently and once told me he had a wife and a child,” said Ann Njeri, a resident.
Some witnesses said the man was fleeing from police. Others claimed he was making a call on his cell phone while on top of the building when police shot him.
Some residents of Mathare’s Phase Three said police should use information from the local residents to help track down the sect adherents.
“We know the people co-ordinating the sect’s activities but police are not reaching out to us. They should give us protection so we can volunteer information,” said one residents who sought anonymity.
He said the man behind the Mungiki sect in the Kosovo area was an old man who ran many businesses in the slum.
“Even the police know him,” the man added.
Residents were coiling in their shacks, hoping the confrontation between Mungiki and police does not recur.
As dusk fell, an acrid smell of filth wafted across Mathare Valley as two lorries loaded with police prepared for another night patrol.
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