Kenya: Wave of killings in capital city

(SomaliNet) A wave of violence overnight killed at least 17 people in and around the Kenyan capital, including two people found beheaded and 14 killed in gun battles, police said on Friday.

According to reports, three people - including the two who were beheaded - were found slain in Banana Hill on the outskirts of Nairobi, where police have been cracking down on a banned sect called Mungiki, which is accused in a string of beheadings.

The provincial commissioner of Central Province, Kiplimo Rugut, confirmed the three were found dead. A police officer at the scene, who didn\'t want to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said two were beheaded.

Else where, police shot eight suspects who were trying to rob a warehouse of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company Ltd., said Julius Muthuri, police official in the industrial area of Nairobi.

\"Police shot down eight suspects who wanted to rob KenGen,\" he said. KenGen produces about 80 percent of the electricity consumed in the country.

Another gunbattle in eastern Nairobi killed six people, according to another police officer who did not want his name used because he was not authorised to speak to the press.-Sapa-AP