Kenyan village attack leave dozens dead

2012-08-23 78

**EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL**

EDITORS NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL

The ruins of a Kenyan village sit smouldering after a raid by armed attackers wielding machetes and spears.

Police said villagers were locked in their homes before the structures were set alight, leaving dozens dead.

Anyone trying to escape was killed.

The Kenyan Red Cross said they had the bodies of almost 60 people after the raid. Forty injured villagers were taken to hospital.

SOUNDBITE: TANA RIVER RESIDENT, OSMAN HAJI, SAYING (Kiswahili):

"They started attacking us at about five in the morning and they started burning houses from that direction and also killing cattle. I was in the house when I saw them. When some of them entered one of the houses, I ran away and hid. They were more than 300 people."

The raid was part of a long running dispute between two rival groups, fighting over grazing land and water.

Police said it was in retaliation for an earlier attack which left two people dead.

More security has been deployed to the area to ease tension.

The attack shocked local authorities, who said the dispute appeared to have been resolved at a meeting last week.