Kenya

Machete-Wielding Raiders Torch Kenyan Village, Kill 48
Reuters dispatch in The New York Times, August 22, 2012
"Attackers armed with machetes, bows and arrows and spears locked Kenyan villagers in their houses, set the structures alight and killed anyone who tried to escape, leaving at least 48 dead overnight, police and aid workers said. The raid in Kenya's coastal region was part of a long-running dispute between the area's Pokomo and Orma groups over grazing land and water, said police. 'They were armed with crude weapons: machetes, bows and arrows and spears. Some had guns. As a result we have lost 31 women, 11 children and six men, all totaling 48,' area deputy police chief Robert Kitur told Reuters by telephone. A Kenyan Red Cross official who asked not to be named, said they had counted 59 bodies, and the group had ferried more than 40 injured people to a hospital in Malindi town, 150km (93 miles) away from the scene. 'Many of the injured are women and children with severe burns. Eleven have deep cuts on their heads and other body parts,' the official told Reuters. 'I have counted seven with bullet wounds. We have tried to stabilize them, but honestly it will be a miracle if all of them arrive at hospital alive.'