Six bodies found after Tana clashes

Six decomposing corpses were Wednesday recovered from bushes in the clash-torn Hurara village, Tana River County.

Police and Kenya Red Cross officials said the corpses were found in Marijuani, adding that the search for more bodies is still on.

The discovery raises the official death toll from the tribal violence between ethnic Giriama farmers and the pastoralist Wardei community to eight, with one reported missing. Reports show the corpses had partially been eaten by hyenas and humanitarian workers who assisted to retrieve the bodies said they bore deep machete injuries.

Kenya Red Cross Manager in charge of Tana River County Jared Bombe said the corpses included five men and a woman from the same extended family and have positively been identified by relatives.

"Villagers discovered the bodies scattered in the bushes and informed police. They have all been taken to the Malindi District Hospital mortuary," Mr Bombe said Wednesday evening on phone.

According to Bombe, the six victims hailed from Marereni on the border between Tana River and Kilifi counties in a village populated by ethnic Giriama.

Fresh violence that has hit the county has resulted in mass exodus of both tribes from several villages and many families have been displaced in Kanagoni village, Kilifi.

The violence, which began, on August 2 between the two tribes has been characterised by kidnappings and murders blamed on militia using machetes and guns.

Tension between the two groups who live in separate villages on the undefined boundary has been growing since last month when two people were killed in a clash over grazing land at Katsangani village, which is mainly, occupied by Giriama people.

It is not clear if anyone was arrested from last month's violence and murders, but reports show that the unsolved dispute from July might have been the long-term cause of Monday's killing at Katsangani and the alleged kidnappings in the same area on Sunday.

The villages affected by the violence are Mto Kilifi, Ufuoni, Kasangani, Mto Tana, Surijani, Mticharaka, Komeni, Bokani, Milimani, Midodoni and Masolo.

On Monday, Tana River Governor Hussein Dado and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi visited the displaced people at Kanagoni Primary School and called for peaceful co-existence.