Nairobi — Six people were killed near a monastery in Kipkelion District that was last night besieged by armed youths.

Local DC Mr Abdi Halake confirmed the deaths and said the raiders 50 houses had been burnt down.

Fr Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, a priest at the monastery, told the Sunday Nation that the youths armed with bows, arrows and machetes attacked the institution from Morou, Kasaeen, Kamusyan, Mutagoron and Kutung areas.

The monastery is currently housing over 600 victims of post-election violence.

"The police have collected five bodies from the area around the monastery. They have also brought in four wounded victims of the violence. The victims whom we are treating at our (health) facility here have arrow wounds," Fr Nkoyoyo said.

The priest who spoke to the Sunday Nation on phone said he had called the DC to send in more policemen to the institution as he feared the few officers there were likely to be overwhelmed by the attackers.

He said he had called the local DC who promised to send in security personnel by helicopter help them. Mr Halake last night confirmed that policemen had been sent to secure the area. He however said the youths were still burning houses.

The priest said they had been receiving threats of attack in the past two weeks.

Journalists could not access the monastery as a group of youths had blocked the road.

The monastery has 23 monks, two of them from Tanzania and seven from Uganda. The rest are Kenyans. Its health centre has three nurses from Sisters of St Mary Congregation.

In a related incident, about 100 arsonists yesterday burnt down seven houses in Ilula area in Eldoret.

The arsonists armed with bows, arrows and spears struck at around 1.30 pm. A resident of the area, Mr John Kamau, said: "The one who set our house ablaze is a neighbour we have lived with since we were young and I even asked him if it was justified for him to burn our home." Mr Kamau said they settled in the area in 1978.

Most homes have been deserted since the violence began on December 30.

In Eldoret town, the people went on with their normal business as calm returned.

Mr Joash Kipsiele, a local farmer, said he hoped that peace would continue to prevail so that farming could continue uninterrupted.

"Though the Electoral Commission of Kenya let this country down, we hope that President Kibaki and Raila Odinga will look for a solution, for they have already polarised country," he told the Sunday Nation in Eldoret town.