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Night of terror as Mungiki gang takes revenge
It was a night of grisly Mungiki killings and action by police against suspects that left 22 people dead. In what police believe were revenge killings, three people were beheaded in Banana, Kiambu; five were shot dead in a Kariobangi bar and three while driving along Kangundo Road.
The killings came in the wake of the sentencing on Thursday to a five-year jail term of former Mungiki leader John Maina Njenga on gun and bhang possession charges.
Death struck in Nairobi’s Kariobangi South Estate as patrons of Mahutini Bar sipped their beer, probably perched on so-called sina taabu (I have no problems) stools. Gunmen armed with grenades walked into the popular joint and exploded their arsenal before opening fire with their AK 47 rifles.
A stone-throw away, along Kangundo Road, three motorists died at their wheels under gunfire from another vehicle that was overtaking them.
Among the dead was a truck driver rushing his cargo of cabbages to the market. Some heads rested on the dashboard, others hang on the neck-rests of their seats, bearing grotesque testimony to the rampage that reigned on Thursday night.
A human head, tongue and teeth plucked off, and stuffed in a polythene bag was found along Nairobi’s Kirinyaga Road. It lay on the road and no one knew the owner, or where the rest of the body was.
They did not steal, just killed
And in what could amount to reverse thrust of the plane, police gunned down 10 suspects in Industrial Area who they said were electric cable wire thieves.
Officers also shot dead two men at the Globe Cinema Roundabout. One was said to be a mugger while the other was escaping from City Council guards.
In total, 21 people were killed in a single night and six others seriously wounded.
Relatives of the late Michael Kinyanjui, 38, a public transport operator killed by suspected Mungiki members grieve outside his home in Banana, Kiambu, on Friday.
The first incident took place in Mahutini Village Bar in Kariobangi South Estate at about 9.30pm where five people were killed after three gunmen threw a hand grenade into the joint and opened fire indiscriminately.
The gunmen who were riding in a saloon car were armed with two AK 47 rifles and a pistol when they stormed into the bar.
The deceased included two taxi drivers, a woman and two revelers.
Witnesses said the gunmen arrived in the car and walked into the joint before opening fire and later detonated the grenade.
“It has been found to be an old grenade and it exploded as the revelers escaped from the scene,” said an officer.
The thugs outside the bar shot the taxi drivers and female victims as they escaped. The gunmen did not steal anything from the bar or the victims.
The thugs then drove towards Kangundo Road, about three kilometres away from the scene, where they shot dead three motorists.
The three died on the spot and witnesses said the thugs were angered when the vehicles appeared to block their way as they sped off.
Police officers chasing the gang opened fire on a matatu by mistake and seriously wounded five passengers. The passengers are in various city hospitals.
Revenge
Police were categorical that the Thursday night incidents were well co-ordinated and were carried out by members of the outlawed Mungiki sect in reaction to imprisonment of Njenga.
A survivor and witness of the Mahutini Bar killings confessed he overheard the killers talk of avenging Njenga’s jailing.
“I overheard the killers say they were revenging the predicament facing their leader (Njenga) who was jailed for five years”, said a witness whose name we have deliberately withheld.
Police spokesman, Mr Eric Kiraithe, told The Saturday Standard, their investigations pointed an accusing finger at the sect members and they were pursuing crucial leads.
“Those are the jobs of these Mungiki people but our officers are going after them,” he said.
At the bar, police recovered another grenade that did not explode, an indication the assailants wanted many people to die or be injured.
Witnesses said there were about 100 patrons at Mahutini. He said the grenade exploded creating a hole where some of them had been seated.
“Had it exploded when all of the patrons were seated, there could have been more deaths here. People were watching news when they opened fire and everyone scampered for safety,” said a patron.
Sources said police were interested to know if the explosives belonged to the police or military.
In Industrial Area, police said they shot dead eight men who were found stealing copper wires belonging to the Kenya Power Lighting Company at about 10.30pm.
A statement from KPLC said the burglars had arrived at about 8pm and were busy cutting the cables when police were alerted.
Witnesses said all the suspects were shot at close range. Police said the burglars were to take the cables to the slums where they conduct illegal electricity connections.
Three other men waiting outside managed to escape, the statement said, adding that KPLC had lost property worth Sh202 million from such theft and vandalism.
And following the incidents, senior security officers in Nairobi and Central provinces held meetings to discuss ways of containing the menace.
In Kiambu, suspected Mungiki adherents beheaded three people at Thimbigua village, Banana.
The scene was splattered with blood, perhaps a testimony of the struggle that ensued among the three and their killers.
Villagers said the sect members had a list of people they were targeting, and the man topping the list narrowly escaped, as he was with the three.
At the two of the three homes belonging to the deceased, relatives wailed while others were too shocked to recount the incident.
Ms Beatrice Wambui, sister to Solomon Kamau, 23, tearfully relived her last moments with her brother.
“We heard some wails in the wee hours of the morning when we were told my brother was among those murdered. Last evening I was with him when he was ironing his clothes, then he was sent by my mother to buy paraffin. He came back and left afterwards but promised to come back, he never returned,” she said amid tears.
Kamau’s bed was intact, an indication he never slept on it.
Simeon Kinyanjui’s uncle, who did not wish to be named, narrated how they discussed with his nephew about a cow they wanted to sell. They were to come to a decision later. But it never came to be.
Kinyanjui was a matatu while Kamau was a taxi driver. The third person was said to be an artist.
Kinyanjui’s mother, who is ailing, was overcome with grief as she recoiled in a corner of her timber house even as residents streamed in to console her.
The killings came after a week of relative calm after close 100 people, including 17 police officers, were killed over the past three months.
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