Beheaded couple found during crime blitz

October 08 2007 at 02:12AM

Nairobi - Three people, including an elderly couple, were found beheaded in two separate regions of Kenya, police said on Sunday, as authorities intensified a crackdown on crime across the East African nation.

In the western village of Ulando, villagers discovered an elderly couple beheaded and their bodies mutilated inside their house, police said.

"The bodies were badly mutilated and appear to have been killed using very sharp objects like pangas (machetes)," said the officer, who did not want to be named.

"We have launched investigations into the murder case... We are appealing for anyone with information to assist us," said Nyanza provincial police commander Grace Kaindi said.

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And in a village near the central Kenya town of Limuru, a middle-aged woman was found beheaded and her body dumped in the bush, an incident that local media reported bore the hallmarks of similar decapitations carried out by members of the notorious Mungiki sect.

Meanwhile in the Umoja district of the capital Nairobi, police killed two armed men after a more than three-hour gun battle in which more 50 officers were involved.

"The pair were involved in a string of robberies in the capital, where they had evaded police for several months," a police spokesperson said.

The Mungiki sect was once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, but authorities say the sect has morphed into a ruthless gang blamed for criminal activities including extortion and murder.

Since March, the gang has been accused of murdering at least 43 people - beheading several of their victims - mainly in Nairobi slums and central Kenya.

The wave of killings peaked in June, raising fears of widespread instability in Kenya ahead of general elections due in December, but a police crackdown has since curbed the violence. - Sapa-AFP