June 23, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1428

BANANA (Kenya): Three Kenyans were hacked to death and police killed at least nine others in areas around the capital Nairobi where the feared Mungiki criminal gang is strong, authorities said on Friday.

The deaths come weeks after the Kenyan government began a crackdown on Mungiki in which at least 33 suspected members were killed by police. Police gunned down at least nine suspected gangsters overnight after an attack at a bar in the Kariobangi area, which has a strong Mungiki presence, a police spokesman said.

“Yesterday police intercepted a gang along Kangundo Road and eight or so were gunned down, and this morning we gunned down another one along Kirinyaga Road,” spokesman Eric Kiraithe said, referring to areas in Nairobi.

In Banana, a village in Kiambu district just north of Nairobi, police overnight found three young men hacked to death, a style used by Mungiki.

Two victims worked on matatus, Kenya’s ubiquitous minibuses from which experts say Mungiki makes millions of shillings through extortion. The machete-wielding killers menaced others.

“Three people died but there were others who were also chased, so there is no way you can say anyone was targeted,” Kiambu District Commissioner Lawrence Lenayapa said.—Reuters