Police kill eight suspected robbers

By Cyrus Ombati

Eight suspected robbers were gunned down by police in a shooting incident along Nairobi's busy Waiyaki Way and three guns with 19 bullets recovered.

The men aged between 20 and 30years were driving in two salon cars that police say had been stolen when they met their death near Nairobi School.

The two cars were badly damaged in the shooting that occurred on Sunday at about 11 pm. Police said the shooting followed a dramatic chase from Kikuyu Town, about 10 kilometers from the scene of the shooting.

Police said a robbery and carjacking incident had earlier on been reported in Kikuyu Town before a hunt and subsequent chase began.

Witnesses said the bodies of the men lay outside the cars a few meters apart, an indication they were trying to escape when police struck.

Officers from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit who were involved in the chase revealed the same gang had been linked to a series of carjacking incidents that were reported in Nairobi on Saturday night.

Nairobi Area PPO Anthony Kibuchi said the gang had been operating using two salon cars and that they kept changing number plates to evade police dragnets.

In the Saturday incidents, a record ten carjacking incidents were reported in Nairobi with the victims losing their property, cash, mobile phones and cars.

Most victims who reported to police gave descriptions of the cars involved and police argue they fitted the two cars that the eight-gang members were using.

The thugs blocked motorists and robbed them of their valuables and in some incidents they dropped the victims and drove away with their cars. Most of the victims were from social joints where they had watched the UEFA champions final clash between Barcelona and Manchester United.

Come Sunday night, Kibuchi said police had been put on alert and asked to trail the same gang.

"We had intelligence being the end of the month, they will again come out and try to harass residents which they did before a chase begun in Kikuyu area where two motorists complained of being attacked," said Kibuchi.

The two cars the thugs were using were towed away to the Kabete police station.

Kibuchi asked motorists whose cars were stolen to visit Buruburu police station and try to identify some of the engines that were seized at the weekend.