12-year-old school boy among victims of Hindi killings

Lamu, Kenya: A 12-year-old boy was among 12 people killed in Saturday's night of murder, arson and pillage at Hindi village in Lamu County.

Still dressed in his school uniform, the boy's body was among 11 others taken to Mpeketoni District Hospital mortuary, sparking outrage. Like the adult victims, his hands were trussed behind his back and his throat slit. Two of the bodies had their faces burnt and were barely recognisable.

The killings at Gamba Police Station in Tana River and Hindi, Lamu, defied religious and tribal logic but the arrival of the bodies from Hindi - where the killers also burnt a church - sparked anti-Muslim sentiments.

The Standard was unable to identify the boy or the school he attended. Spontaneous riots and demonstrations broke out in Mpeketoni, with mainly Christian youths threatening to arm themselves to defend their families.

"We shall not just sit back and get killed. We shall go into the forest," an angry demonstrator said in Mpeketoni.

Hundreds of women marched to the local police station claiming officers set free a gang of 16 detained in a citizens' arrest last week, allegedly after being bribed. The women claimed the gang was behind the massacre in Hindi, where police allegedly escorted them after setting them free.

Anti-Christian leaflets have been dropped in Hindi calling Muslims to take up arms "to defend your land from being taken away". Sunday, police in Mpeketoni beat back a crowd trying to march on a mosque.