NAIROBI (AFP) - Seven crime suspects were killed in the Kenyan capital during a crackdown on a politically-linked gang blamed for a string of murders, police said Tuesday.
The seven were shot dead in several Nairobi districts Tuesday and overnight while commiting robberies, said police commander Julius Ndegwa.
"We are yet to establish whether they are Mungiki sect members, but as of now, we are treating them as normal robbers," he said.
The Mungiki gang is accused of more than 40 murders since March, including 12 beheadings. The violence spree comes as Kenya's election race is hotting up, triggering a fierce police crackdown which has left 63 suspects dead.
National police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said 3,379 suspected Mungiki members had been arrested and charged across the country since the clampdown started in March.
"We would like to assure all Kenyans that we are going the extra mile to maintain law and order in this country," he said in a statement Tuesday.
"The war against criminals has been intensified and police are deploying all the powers, privileges and immunities bestowed upon them by the laws of Kenya to ensure that all criminal activities are brought to a stop," he added.
The latest violence blamed by officials on the Mungiki has set off an acrimonious debate with critics accusing some politicians of exploiting the country's jobless youth to spark violence ahead of elections scheduled for the end of the year.
Once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who rejected the trappings of Western civilisation, the Mungiki sect transformed into a tribal vigilante and eventually into a politically-linked mafia notorious for extortion and murder. _________________ kyranŠ
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