Police in their sights

Kenya: Women’s bodies discovered in garbage dump

The mutilated bodies of women were found on this garbage dump in a Nairobi slum.

(Bild: AFP/Simon Maina)

A gruesome discovery of corpses has puzzled Kenyan investigators: in a former quarry used as a garbage dump in a slum in Nairobi, local residents have discovered body parts tied up in plastic bags. Kenya's police oversight authority IPOA is investigating the possible involvement of police officers in the deaths.

Following the discovery on Friday, an initial statement said that the remains were those of six women. Human rights organizations that rushed to the site even spoke of eight bodies. The police, however, said that the body parts had been distributed among several sacks.

Homicide investigators and forensic experts are trying to establish the identity of the dead. According to initial police findings, the victims were killed around two weeks ago. The place where the bodies were found is close to a police station. The background to the murders is still unclear.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigation stated that preliminary investigations indicate that all the victims were killed in the same way. The search for human remains at the garbage dump continued on Saturday - watched by an angry crowd.

Were police involved in the deaths?
The watchdog will conduct "preliminary investigations independent of the police investigation to establish whether the police were involved in the deaths or failed to prevent them," the IPOA said after the discovery of the mutilated bodies in a dumpsite at an abandoned quarry in Mukuru in the south of the capital.

"The bodies, wrapped in plastic bags and secured with nylon ropes, showed visible signs of torture and mutilation," the IPOA stated. It added that the site where the bodies were found was less than a hundred meters from a police station. Kenyan police have been under close scrutiny since dozens of people were killed during anti-government protests last month.

Allegations that demonstrators were unlawfully arrested during the recent protests against the East African country's government and have since gone missing are also being investigated, it was reported on Saturday. Following the protests against government policy in recent weeks, people are still missing in the East African country who were victims of abductions - presumably by police officers.

The bodies werefound not far from the police station
"The bodies, wrapped in plastic bags and secured with nylon ropes, showed visible signs of torture and mutilation," the IPOA stated. It added that the site where the bodies were found was less than a hundred meters from a police station. Kenyan police have been under close scrutiny since dozens of people were killed during anti-government protests last month.

Human rights organizations accuse the police of using excessive force. These were the most violent clashes in Kenya since the country gained independence from Britain in 1963. President William Ruto is struggling to contain the worst crisis of his administration, which was triggered by planned tax increases.