More arrested amid reports jailed suspects broke free

Lamu, Kenya: Police in Lamu have arrested seven people including two women they claim participated in or aided Saturday's violence in Hindi.

The Standard has also established that Faisal Salim and Omar Ali Jillo, who had been detained at Gamba Police Station after being arrested on Thursday last week, escaped from custody when the militiamen struck on Saturday.

Reports indicate the militiamen had come to rescue the two together with Ali Amuma, a murder suspect who was left behind. Salim and Jillo have not been recaptured and police claim they were under investigation over the mid-June massacre in Mpeketoni.

Amuma escaped from Gamba Police Station mid last year. He faced charges of allegedly killing nine policemen late in 2012, who had been deployed to protect civilians caught up in the Orma and Pokomo ethnic violence in Kilelengwani in Tana Delta.

Police in Gamba said yesterday evening the attackers could not find the cell where Amuma was held.

The seven were arrested in Mokowe Forest according to Deputy Inspector General of Police Samuel Arachi, who said yesterday evening 17 other suspects were arrested in Kipini Forest.

According to police, those arrested in Mokowe come from Rabai and Chonyi in Kilifi and parts of Kwale, although suvivors of the massacres claimed there were ethnic Somalis, Arabs and foreigners.

"The suspects had with them ropes similar to the ones the attackers used to tie up the victims - a clear indication they were part of the gang," Arachi said, adding that this group also had a map of the local towns.

And police in Taita-Taveta County have arrested three people for allegedly recruiting local youths to join the Mombasa Republican Council.