Kenya: Pre-election violence claims more 2 lives

(SomaliNet) In pre-election violence ahead of end-of-month polls, two more people were killed in Kenya\'s Rift Valley region, police said on Monday.

A police source said police shot a man among a group of arsonists, while another group of tribal fighters hacked a man to death overnight on Sunday in Molo district, about 170 kilometres north-west of Nairobi, bringing the death toll to 13 in more than a week.

\"We are doing the best (we can) to prevent the violence,\" police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe told AFP.

Thousands of people have been fleeing rural areas where youths have been fighting and looting abandoned homesteads, witnesses said.

Ahead of the December 27 elections, police have vowed to crack down on violence which is also a regular feature of political rallies in Kenya.

The latest deaths bring the toll to at least 35 killed in poll-related incidents since July.

More than 14 million Kenyans are registered to vote in the polls to elect a new president, parliament and local councils in the country\'s fourth multi-party election since pluralism was introduced in 1992.

Opinion polls put opposition candidate Raila Odinga slightly ahead of President Mwai Kibaki in the presidential race, with former foreign minister Kalonzo Musyoka trailing far behind.

Political observers expect the elections to be the closest ever in the east African nation, home to about 35 million people.-AFP