Kenya’s police watchdog is investigating whether there is any police involvement in the gruesome discovery of mutilated bodies in a Nairobi garbage dump.
The Kenyan Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) is also looking into claims of abductions and unlawful arrests of demonstrators who went missing after widespread anti-government protests.
Police initially said the severely mutilated bodies of six women tied up in plastic bags were on Friday found dumped at a garbage site in an abandoned quarry in Mukuru, in the south of the capital, Nairobi.
Photo: AFP
The IPOA later said in a statement that the remains of at least nine people had been recovered, seven of them female, and called for swift investigations to identify them.
“The bodies, wrapped in bags and secured by nylon ropes, had visible marks of torture and mutilation,” it said, adding that the garbage dump was less than 100m from a police station.
Kenyan police are under sharp scrutiny after dozens of people were killed during demonstrations last month, with rights group accusing officers of using excessive force.
Kenyan Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome, the target of much public anger over the protest deaths, has resigned after less than two years in the post, Kenya’s presidency announced on Friday.
He is the latest head to roll as Kenya President William Ruto scrambles to contain the worst crisis of his rule, triggered by deeply unpopular proposed tax hikes.
Crowds on Friday gathered at the site where the bodies were found, chanting “Ruto must go,” the slogan of the wave of protests led by young Kenyans.
Kenyan police are feared and face frequent allegations of extrajudicial killings but are seldom convicted.
Images on local television showed people using ropes to heave sacks containing the human remains from trash-strewn water at the quarry dump site.
“As the police investigations unfold, IPOA is keenly independently undertaking preliminary inquiries to establish whether there was any police involvement in the deaths, or failure to act to prevent them,” the agency said.
The Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations said preliminary investigations suggested that all the victims had been killed in the same manner, without elaborating.
The Kenyan Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions also highlighted the location of the bodies so close to a police station and said it was “deeply concerned” about the discoveries “which point to a grave violation of human rights.”
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