Six die in police station

Six people have died and another three seriously injured while being held in custody at a police station in Thika town near Nairobi, news agencies reported on Tuesday. Police officers claimed that the men, who had been sharing a cell, had died after fighting each other, the 'Daily Nation' said.

AFP quoted police spokesman Peter Kimathi as saying that three detainees suspected of murder had beaten another six prisoners to death with their shoes. Kamathi claimed that the three suspects "went berserk" on Sunday night, attacking other detainees in the cell "with shoes and other crude weapons." Kamathi added that the six police officers on duty on Sunday had been arrested for negligence. "They allowed the prisoners to go into the cell with their shoes and other gadgets - a shoe is a very dangerous weapon."

A human rights activist and medical doctor, Lukas Munya, who examined the bodies, was quoted as saying by the BBC that he was "disgusted" with what he had seen. He added that the bodies had "multiple wounds on them, while some had leg and arm fractures". Thika police have yet to explain last month's death of a prisoner being held at the same police station, the 'Daily Nation' said.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission in July alleged that the police force had carried out 1,119 extrajudicial executions over the past six years. In its June report, "Kenya: Ending the Cycle of Impunity", Amnesty International said torture continued to be practised by the Kenya police, and that the lack of investigations into police brutality had reinforced the view that the government condoned the use of excessive force by the police.