Kenyan religious sect beheads bus driver and conductor

NAIROBI – Two people were beheaded and more than a dozen passengers robbed on Saturday in central Kenya in a surge of violent crime blamed on members a banned pseudo-religious sect, police said.

Police said members of Mungiki, a shadowy religious group with alleged historic ties to the Mau Mau independence uprising, attacked a day after President Mwai Kibaki vowed to crack down on the organisation. “A driver and a conductor of a passenger van were beheaded in Maragua district this morning,” said Sabastian Ndaru, the chief police investigator for the country’s Central Province.”Two young men posing as passengers flagged down a passenger van.After it stopped, a large group emerged from the bush.All passengers were robbed and later, the gang took the two to the roadside where they killed them then beheaded” them, Ndaru said.Ndaru said the group razed the vehicle.On Friday, a furious Kibaki vowed to crack down on a politically-linked sect blamed for a wave of murders in the east African nation.The Mungiki comprises mainly snuff-taking, dreadlocked youths who champion old traditions such as female circumcision.Banned in 2002 following deadly slum violence, the group is notorious for criminal activities including extortion, murder and harassment of women.Authorities are currently probing four former members of parliament accused of links to the Mungiki, which has been blamed for the deaths of around 20 people in the last three months, including the beheading of four people in central Kenya in May.Government spokesperson Alfred Mutua said on Thursday that police had arrested at least 2 464 suspected Mungiki members this year in the Central and Nairobi provinces.Sect members have recently fought with police in towns around Nairobi over control of bus terminals, where they have been extorting money from drivers and conductors.Violence and tribal clashes are common ahead of elections in Kenya, where presidential, parliamentary and local elections are scheduled for December.Nampa-Sapa”A driver and a conductor of a passenger van were beheaded in Maragua district this morning,” said Sabastian Ndaru, the chief police investigator for the country’s Central Province.”Two young men posing as passengers flagged down a passenger van.After it stopped, a large group emerged from the bush.All passengers were robbed and later, the gang took the two to the roadside where they killed them then beheaded” them, Ndaru said.Ndaru said the group razed the vehicle.On Friday, a furious Kibaki vowed to crack down on a politically-linked sect blamed for a wave of murders in the east African nation.The Mungiki comprises mainly snuff-taking, dreadlocked youths who champion old traditions such as female circumcision.Banned in 2002 following deadly slum violence, the group is notorious for criminal activities including extortion, murder and harassment of women.Authorities are currently probing four former members of parliament accused of links to the Mungiki, which has been blamed for the deaths of around 20 people in the last three months, including the beheading of four people in central Kenya in May.Government spokesperson Alfred Mutua said on Thursday that police had arrested at least 2 464 suspected Mungiki members this year in the Central and Nairobi provinces.Sect members have recently fought with police in towns around Nairobi over control of bus terminals, where they have been extorting money from drivers and conductors.Violence and tribal clashes are common ahead of elections in Kenya, where presidential, parliamentary and local elections are scheduled for December.Nampa-Sapa