Police unearth mass burial sites in Tana

Security personnel on patrol in the Tana Delta came upon sites they believe to have either firearms or bodies buried in them. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said that officers from the General Service Unit stumbled upon the two sites in Ozi as they were combing the area for militia.

The initial body count accruing from the inter-ethnic clashes were placed at 112, but discovery of the site points to the possibility of more bodies initially not accounted for. The police spokesman has said that a pathologist has been called in to assist with evidence gathering and preservation of the scene.

The clashes broke out in mid-August following initial reports that the Orma and the Pokomo were fighting over pasture. However recent development allude to political motive behind the clashes. Former Livestock assistant minister Dadho Godhana was arrested and arraigned in court on charges of incitement to violence. He remains suspended from government pending the outcome of the case.

President Kibaki ordered the deployment of about 2000 security personnel to the Tana Delta region to quell the violence, disarm the militia and enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew. However fresh attacks has disrupted the slowly returning clam, about 35 homes were reportedly torched yesterday.