Nairobi — Emboldened by the apparent Government inability to dismantle it, the Mungiki sect has now transformed itself into an organised gang armed with AK-47 rifles, which they used to kill a police officer in another dawn of bloodletting in Kiambu.

Corporal James Gitahi was shot twice in the chest and hand as he, together with his squad members, pursued the attackers who had overran several homes in the neighbourhood of Banana Hill at about 7am. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Nazareth Hospital.

Using their new weapons of terror, and said to be more daring than ever, the gang also shot and seriously wounded a matatu owner and his son. They were fighting for their lives at the Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, on Tuesday.

The reality of this new, completely unnerving status of the proscribed religious sect began to sink in as the country woke up to yet another day of bloodletting.

In volatile Trans-Nzoia District, raiders armed with AK-47 rifles shot dead seven people and injured five others. They completed the atrocity by raping a 15-year-old schoolgirl. A Cabinet minister reacted angrily to the upsurge of insecurity in the country.

Dr Noah Wekesa, the Science and Technology minister, warned that insecurity would cost the Government victory in the General Election, due in December.

This came even as outrage from across the political divide greeted an order by the Commissioner of Police, Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, to his officers to crack down on dissent, raising temperatures early in an election year.

"ODM-Kenya will use insecurity as a campaign tool against the Government to win the elections. People are not happy to see their relatives being killed like goats and chicken," Dr Wekesa told The Standard by telephone from Abuja, Nigeria, where he is on official duty.

Six-year-old boy shot dead

Inspector Magaret Masote displays a head mask recovered from the gunman's house.

About 30 heavily armed raiders, according to witness accounts, struck Kinyoro trading centre in Saboti Constituency, terrorised residents for hours before parading six on the busy Kitale-Kisawai road, whom they spraying with bullets.

And in Turkana District, a six-year-old boy was shot dead and 1,584 livestock stolen during a raid by bandits.

Witnesses said over 90 bandits raided Nakukulat village in Turkana South constituency at around 7pm, shot the boy dead before fleeing with 1,555 goats and sheep and 29 camels.

The raiders struck as the young boy, Esiutun Engimekunyan and his elder brothers were returning the livestock home from grazing.

Turkana acting police boss, Mr Mark Wanjala, said the bandits opened fire, killing the boy on the spot as the others escaped.

Meanwhile, Internal Security minister Mr John Michuki spent another day in the United States, where he travelled for talks on terror, even as it became increasingly apparent that he left behind roving bands of Kenya's own homebred terrorists.

In the worst attack yet on the crime-weary residents of Banana Hill, a prosperous town 23kms north-east of Nairobi, the marauding Mungiki yesterday burnt three mini-buses worth millions of shillings, in what insiders said was a warning shot to those who refused to comply with the demands of the gang's extortion rings.

The suspects' firepower was evident after they engaged police in a shootout, holding out for long spells before they were finally overpowered, with police killing one of them.

Revenge attack to flush out collaborators

An AK-47 rifle with 10 bullets was recovered at the scene. The late Gitahi was among 10 officers pursuing the gang that had at about 3am burnt the three buses that ply the Nairobi-Banana route.

Jane Naliaga is assisted by relatives after she learnt that her brother, Moris Wanjala Naliaga, had been killed by raiders at Kinyoro in Saboti constituency.

He was from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit and had been sent to the area to help in combating the notorious sect.

Last week, as the battle to control the lucrative matatu routes in the area raged, the sect members slashed to death three matatu operators in reprisal attacks.

Tuesday's Mungiki attacks came only a day after Ali announced that the war on the sect would continue despite protests from a section of Government officials. GSU personnel backed by regular police have been patrolling the area, which is an operation zone.

The Standard has learnt that the raid was a revenge attack to flush out collaborators and pay back perpetrators of an incident last week in which matatu operators set ablaze 11 houses of their colleagues.

Witnesses said the thugs first stormed a petrol station where the three buses were parked and petrol-bombed them.

They also beat up and seriously wounded two night guards. The owner of the buses, a Mr S Kago, reportedly opposed the levies paid to the sect as protection fees by PSV operators and was yesterday said to be in shock.

Vehicles hijacked and motorists robbed

As residents tried to put out the fires that engulfed the buses, the attackers took advantage of the confusion to hijack vehicles and rob motorists.

Police mounted a search and in one of the houses, recovered three balaclavas, police jungle uniform, knives and other assorted Mungiki paraphernalia.

The officers, led by Central PCIO Sebastian Ndaru, arrested the owner of the house.

A hunt for the killer and his accomplices was still underway by the time of going to press. Tension remained high in the area, with a few matatus in business.

Among those killed in the Saboti execution were three second-hand clothes traders, a carpenter, a tractor driver, a human rights activist and a casual labourer. Witnesses said the raiders, armed with AK-47 rifles and wearing police uniforms, were dropped in the area at 9pm by a lorry.

The attack comes barely three weeks after leaflets were circulated in the area warning of an impending attack.

The Rift valley Provincial Police Officer, Mr Everett Wasige, flew to the area and termed the killings a criminal act.

Additional reporting by Isaiah Lucheli