10 Kenyans killed in dawn raid, Red Cross says

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 10 people were killed and several wounded in a retaliatory dawn raid Thursday, Jan 10 in the Tana River delta region of southeast Kenya, the latest violence to flare up in an area where scores died in clashes last year, Kenya Red Cross said.

"There are 10 dead and two critically wounded, with gunshot wounds, machete cuts and burns," local Red Cross official Caleb Kilunde said.

The attack came a day after nine were killed in a raid.

Violence in the region first erupted in August, pitting the Pokomo farming community against their Orma pastoralist neighbors and leading to a series of vicious reprisal killings and attacks that left more than 150 people dead.

The repeated outbreaks of violence also raises concerns over security and a lack of police capacity in volatile areas ahead of elections due on March 4, with police investigating local politicians for alleged involvement in the unrest.

Regional police chief Aggrey Adoli confirmed the renewed violence, admitting that there was "a problem in the area", and that tensions were high.

Thursday's attacks on the Pokomo village of Kibusu, which also left 19 homes burnt, follows a dawn attack on Wednesday by over 100 raiders on the Orma village of Nduru, in which nine people died, AFP reported.