Police in Kenya have found dismembered bodies of ‘at least seven’ women in a rubbish dump in a case that has horrified and angered the country.
Authorities are now investigating if the discoveries are linked to ‘cultists and serial killings’ due to the gruesome nature of the findings in the Nairobi slum of Mukuru.
On Friday police reported finding bodies of at least six women, while the state-funded police watchdog said nine bodies had been found, seven of them women, in sacks floating in a sea of garbage.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday said that another five bags had been retrieved from the abandoned quarry, three of them containing female body parts, including severed legs and two torsos.
The identities of the dead or how long the bodies had been at the quarry are not yet known.
Authorities are now investigating if the discoveries are linked to ‘cultists and serial killings’ due to the gruesome nature of the findings in the Nairobi slum of Mukuru
On Friday police reported finding bodies of at least six women, while the state-funded police watchdog said nine bodies had been found, seven of them women, in sacks floating in a sea of garbage
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday said that another five bags had been retrieved from the abandoned quarry, three of them containing female body parts, including severed legs and two torsos
The crime scene has been cordoned off while the authorities carry out their investigation.
The discoveries come after Kenya was left reeling last year by the discovery of mass graves in a forest near the Indian Ocean coast containing the bodies of hundreds of followers of a doomsday sect, one of the world’s worst cult-related massacres.
The country’s law enforcement services are also under scrutiny after dozens of people were killed during anti-government demonstrations last month, with rights groups accusing officers of using excessive force and of abducting protesters.
A DCI spokesman said in a statement: ‘We want to assure the public that our investigations will be thorough and shall cover a wide range of areas, including but not limited to the possible activities of cultists and serial killings.
‘We appeal to the members of the public to remain calm and give our detectives a chance to deliver justice to the victims of this horrendous scene.’
Tensions have been running high at the Mukuru site, with local media reports that police had fired into the air to try to disperse an angry crowd.
Tensions have been running high at the Mukuru site, with local media reports that police had fired into the air to try to disperse an angry crowd
Onlookers gather at the dumpsite where bodies were found in the landfill in Mukuru slum, Nairobi, on Friday
Locals expressed concern after the more bodies continued to be discovered from the rubbish
The bodies have been placed in body bags by personnel to be transported to the morgue from the site
The DCI said a team of detectives and forensic experts ‘were impeded by agitated members of the public from accessing the scene’
The Independent Police Oversight Authority on Friday had said that it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the gruesome saga
The DCI said a team of detectives and forensic experts ‘were impeded by agitated members of the public from accessing the scene.’
Hussein Khalid, executive director of human rights group Vocal Africa told CNN: ‘It appears to be a dumping site for bodies and I suspect there could be more.
‘They were all women, all tied with the same colour of ribbons, and same colour of sacks.’
The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) on Friday had said that it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the gruesome saga.
‘The bodies, wrapped in bags and secured by nylon ropes, had visible marks of torture and mutilation,’ it said, noting that the dumpsite was less than 100 metres from a police station.
The IPOA also said it was looking into claims of abductions of demonstrators who went missing after the widespread anti-government protests degenerated into deadly mayhem.
But it did not make any link to those missing and the dumped bodies.
People walk among rubbish as others stand on the edge of a dumpsite where the bodies were found at the landfill in the Mukuru slum
The bodies were hidden in bags in a sea of trash in the slum
Some people on social media have described them as victims of femicide.
Officials inspect the bodies while being watched from a crowd of locals
Officials wearing Kenya Red Cross overalls went to the scene to collect the bodies
Some people on social media have described them as victims of femicide.
The discovery of the bodies has sparked fresh public anger and brought a new spotlight to Kenya’s femicide crisis, just months after thousands of women marched on the streets with banners reading: ‘Stop killing us’.
Under-pressure President William Ruto issued his first statement on the Mukuru bodies late on Saturday, saying there was ‘no justification’ for any Kenyan to lose their life.
He wrote on X/Twitter: ‘We are a democratic country guided by the rule of law. Those involved in mysterious killings in Nairobi and any other part of the country will be held to account.’
Kenya’s feared police force is often accused of extrajudicial killings and other rights abuses, but convictions are rare.
A coalition of civil society and rights groups said the Mukuru discoveries came amid a ‘troubling surge’ in cases of mysterious disappearances and abductions, particularly following the anti-tax protests.
Under-pressure President William Ruto (pictured on July 11) issued his first statement on the Mukuru bodies late on Saturday, saying there was ‘no justification’ for any Kenyan to lose their life
Kenya Police officers and security personnel take position to protect the Kenyan Parliament on June 25
Protesters are perched on a police water cannon as it attempts to repel them with chemically treated water jets next to an advertisement featuring a photo of Kenya’s President, William Ruto, during protests on June 25
Protesters run to take cover outside the Kenyan Parliament after storming the building during a nationwide strike on June 25
‘It represents a grave violation of human rights and raises serious concerns about the rule of law and security in our country,’ the coalition said.
National police chief Japhet Koome, the target of much public anger over the protest deaths, resigned on Friday after less than two years in the post.
He is the latest head to roll as Ruto scrambles to contain the worst crisis of his rule, triggered by the protests over deeply unpopular plans for tax hikes that he has now scrapped.
Crowds that gathered at the dumpsite on Friday chanted ‘Ruto must go’, the slogan of Gen-Z Kenyans leading the demonstrations that have now morphed into a wider campaign against the president, corruption and alleged police brutality.
On Monday, doomsday cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie went on trial along with 94 co-defendants over the deaths of more than 400 followers he is accused of inciting to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus.
He and his co-accused also face charges of murder, manslaughter and child cruelty in separate cases over what has been dubbed the ‘Shakahola forest massacre’.
