Villagers found heads placed on poles and body parts scattered in bushes in six murders the media blamed on Tuesday on the outlawed sect ‘Mungiki’ whose notorious for killing and extortion.
Mungiki is a banned group that has fought weeks of battles with local minibus taxi operators who are resisting its demands for protection money. Mungiki, whose name means "multitude" in the local Kikuyu language. In 2002 the group was banned after members armed with knives and clubs killed more than 20 people in a Nairobi slum.
The group instills fear by promoting archaic Kikuyu rituals like swearing oaths, and many Kenyans believe it has been supported by corrupt politicians in the past.
With presidential elections due in the east African nation in December, many commentators suspected a political hand behind violence threatening the government's authority.
"It is out to show the police and other government organs are feeble, helpless and unable to protect anyone who defies it."
Later today the Police will hold a briefing.
The villagers of Murang’a and Kiambu are full of fear and some are even fleeing the area.
"I had gone out to answer a call of nature at around 3 a.m. when I switched on my torch and saw the head of a human being placed on the roof of my chicken pen," Robert Kiunjuri, a teacher in Kianjogu village, told the Nation.
It appears local laborers and peasant farmers are the victims of these murders and that they had no known links to the shadowy sect.
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